Virtue Ethics
Themes in Ethics and Epistemology
Shane Ryan
s.g.ryan@sms.ed.ac.uk
09/10/13
Topic
What is virtue ethics?
Structure
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
2. Virtue Ethics: historical background
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic claims
4. Objection and Response
5. Conclusion
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
Alternatives
●
Deontology:
–
A moral theory focused on our duties/rules
–
An action is right if it's in conformity with/from a
moral rule. Acting from such rules has priority over
what might produce most good.
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
Alternatives
●
Consequentialism:
–
A moral theory focused on consequences
–
Morality requires us to act to bring about the best
consequences.
–
Different consequentialist theories spell out best
consequences differently.
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
Dissatisfaction with alternatives
●
Elizabeth Anscombe (1958):
–
She criticised the rigid use of rules/principles in
Kant's deontology and Mill's utilitariansm.
–
Both suffer from counterexamples that it's difficult
to dismiss.
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
Dissatisfaction with alternatives
●
Bernard Williams (1985, and Athanassoulis, 2010):
–
Ethics broader than morality as characterised in Kant's
philosophy
–
Morality is concerned with duty/obligation and blame
–
Ethics has broader concerns, including certain emotions,
relations with family and friends.
–
Deontology and Consequentialism don't address those
concerns.
1. The Motivation for Virtue Ethics
Virtue Ethics
●
●
Deontology and consequentialism are primarily
concerned with saying what makes for a good
act.
In contrast, virtue ethics is agent focused
rather than act focused.
–
Virtue ethics focuses on how you should be rather
than what you should do.
2. Virtue Ethics: historical
background
●
Historically, various ethical accounts are or
have been interpreted as virtue ethical
accounts:
–
From Chinese philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, the
Stoics, Aquinas, Hume and Nietzsche.
2. Virtue Ethics: historical
background
Examples of Approach
●
Aquinas' virtue ethics:
–
“A virtue is an aspect of, or constitutive element in,
being a person of good character. To have the
virtues is to have a stable and ready willingness to
make choices that are morally good because in
line with the bonum rationis, the basic good of
practical reasonableness.” (Finnis, 2011).
2. Virtue Ethics: historical
background
Examples of Approach
●
Hume's virtue ethics:
–
“[A] virtue is a character trait (of human beings)
that is useful or agreeable to its possessor or to
others (inclusive 'or' both times)”. (Hursthouse,
1996).
2. Virtue Ethics: historical
background
●
●
Aristotelian virtue ethics, however, is what has
been drawn on most heavily in the recent
revival of the approach.
Three concepts commonly drawn from
Aristotelian virtue ethics:
–
Aretê – excellence or virtue
–
Phronesis – practical or moral wisdom
–
Eudaimonia – happiness or flourishing
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
From Aristotle
●
Two kinds of virtue: intellectual and moral
Two kinds of intellectual virtue: theoretical wisdom
and practical wisdom (Phronesis)
●
●
Virtue is understood as an excellence
Phronesis is required for the application of moral
virtue
●
–For
example, how do I be just in this situation?
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
From Julia Annas (2011) on virtue
●
What does it mean to say Jane is generous?
–
It's not just to say that they did something
generous or that they had a generous feeling
–
A person might do something generous, say, to
impress a friend
–
Or she might have momentarily felt generous
because of a song she heard
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
From Julia Annas (2011) on virtue
●
“For Jane to be generous, generosity has to be
a feature of her”
–
A persisting, reliable, and characteristic feature of
her.
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
From Julia Annas (2011) on virtue
●
Persisting:
–
●
Reliable:
–
●
she retains her generosity in the face of challenges
She can be expected to be generous on the occasions that
call for generosity
Characteristic:
–
She is acting in and from character when she is acting
generously
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
●
For Aristotle being virtuous is a necessary requirement for
eudaimonia.
–
●
Being virtuous is self-interested because virtues bring their
own reward and are constitutive elements of eudaimonia.
Alternative view: An agent-based theory
–
Common sense intuitions determine the virtues. Those
Intuitions are based on what we judge to be admirable
traits in other people (Athanassoulis, 2010).
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
The Development of Moral Character
●
●
●
People have natural tendencies which may be
encouraged or discouraged
Our natural tendencies are affected by
parents, teachers, peers, role-modes etc.
Our character generally is affected by
habituation and education.
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
The Development of Moral Character
●
A person begins to become virtuous by trying
to emulate her virtuous role-model.
–
●
This involves habituating oneself in right action
But virtue is not merely a habit
–
The virtuous person acts reflectively recognising
why she should act virtuously (Athanassoulis,
2010)
–
Becoming virtuous takes practice
3. Virtue Ethics: characteristic
claims
A portrait of the virtuous agent
●
“The virtuous agent acts effortlessly, perceives
the right reason, has the harmonious right
desire, and has an inner state of virtue that
flows smoothly into action.” (Athanassoulis,
2010).
4. Objection and Response
Objection: Action Guidance
●
●
Deontology and consequentialism tell us what
we need to do in a situation to act morally.
Objection: Virtue ethics doesn't tell us how to
act morally in a situation.
–
Implication: Virtue ethics is not a rival to
deontology and consequentialism.
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
Utilitarian account of right action
–
U1. An action is right iff it promotes the best
consequences.
–
U2. The best consequences are those in which
happiness is maximised.
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
Deontological account of right action
–
D1. An action is right iff it is in accordance with a
correct moral rule or principle
–
D2. A correct moral rule (principle) is one that...
–
–
–
is universalisable
would be the object of choice of all rational beings
…
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
A virtue ethicist account of right action
–
V1. An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent
would characteristically (i.e. acting in character) do
in the circumstances.
–
V1a. A virtuous agent is one who acts virtuously,
that is, one who has and exercises the virtues.
–
V2. A virtue is a character trait that....
–
–
–
a human being needs for eudaimonia
is useful or agreeable to its possessor or to others (inclusive 'or'
both times)”
…
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
●
Objector's response: But how can you know what the virtuous
agent would do in particular circumstances unless you
yourself are already virtuous?
Hursthouse's response:
–
We can go to the virtuous agent and ask what they do in
the circumstances.
●
–
Appeal to experts. How is it to be judged who should
qualify?
Based on a knowledge of what the virtues are, I can know
what to do.
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
Conflict Problem: When different virtues seem to demand
conflicting actions
–
●
For example, when the honest thing to do seems to be to
tell the truth, albeit while saying something hurtful in the
process, and the kind thing to do seems to be to remain
silent or perhaps to lie.
Virtue ethicist response:
–
Such conflicts may merely be apparent due to a
misunderstanding of what the virtues require in particular
circumstances.
–
But it may also be the case that some conflicts aren't
resolvable by normative ethics.
4. Objection and Response
Hursthouse (1996)
●
Dilemmas:
–
Anti-theory – rejecting normative ethical theory
–
By rejecting a normative ethical theory supporters
of anti-theory are rejecting the claim that a set of
general principles can provide a decision
procedure that can yield the correct answer to all
questions about how to act morally.
5. Conclusion
●
What is a virtue?
–
●
Annas: a persisting, reliable, and characteristic
feature of her.
For Aristotle being virtuous is a necessary
requirement for eudaimonia.
5. Conclusion
●
●
What is virtue ethics?
–
It's agent centred rather than act centred
–
Virtue ethics seems to better reflect what we think
of as our moral lives – it says something about
how we should be.
Contemporary virtue ethicists tend to draw on
Aristotle's virtue ethics but there are many
other alternatives.
5. Conclusion
●
Objection: Virtue ethics doesn't tell us how to act morally in a
situation.
–
●
Implication: Virtue ethics is not a rival to deontology and
consequentialism.
Hursthouse: An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent
would characteristically (i.e. acting in character) do in the
circumstances. (Key condition)
–
Virtue Ethics can tell us what to do in numerous
circumstances
–
It's an advantage that it doesn't claim to have a procedure
that can tell us what to do in every circumstance.