FINALS TOPIC 1
ETHICS
Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics
- an ethical act is the action that a virtuous person would do in the same circumstances. Virtue
ethics is person-based than action-based.
- it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical
duties and rules or consequences of the actions.
- virtue ethics is the “ethics of behavior” which focuses on the character of the persons involved in
the decision or action. If the person in question has good character, and genuine motivation and
intentions, he or she is behaving ethically.
- the rightness or wrongness of one’s action, or the goodness or badness of one’s personality
depends on his character, motivation, and intentions.
Basic Types of Virtue
1. Intellectual Virtues
- excellence of the mind
- ability to understand, reason, and judge well
2. Moral Virtues
- person’s dispositions to act well
In the context of Aristotle, virtue is attained, actualized, or self-realized potential or possibility. He
posited an ethical system that may be termed as “self realizationism.” In Aristotle’s view, when a
person acts in accordance with his nature and realizes his full potential, he will do good and be
content.
At birth, a baby is not a person, but a potential person. To become a “real” person, the child’s
inherent potential must be realized. Unhappiness and frustration are caused by unrealized
potential of a person, leading to failed goals and poor life. Eudaimonia/Happiness was held to be
the ultimate goal. All other things, such as civic life or wealth, are merely means to the end. Self
realization, the awareness of one’s nature and the development of one’s talents, is the surest path to
happiness.
A person has an obligation to be what he/she is meant or in potency to be. It is his/her obligation to
develop his/her talent and virtues. The highest good or end, telos, of a person is the fullness of
his/her self-development or actualization.
Virtue as a Mean
For Aristotle, virtue is the Golden Mean between two extremes. The virtue of courage is a
mean between two extremes of deficiency and extreme, namely, cowardice and foolhardiness,
respectively. Too little courage is cowardice and too much courage is foolhardiness.
ACTIVITY 1. (1/2 CW)
Instruction: Answer the following questions.
1. Who is more courageous — the person who wants to run away but does not or that one who does
not even want to run away? This has something to do with the degree of effort and discipline
required to be virtuous. (10 points)
2. According to Aristotle, virtue is the Golden Mean between two extremes. Is there such thing as
being too honest or too little honesty or too little justice? Or is it a matter of either-or (either you are
honest or just not at all)? (10 points)