Summary- Sports and Virtues
• How are sports and virtues related?
• Is it safe to say that once you exude negative
behaviors, you can never be a virtuous
person?
• Are those athletes seen as faking a foul or
“flopping” seen as virtuous people?
What is the main question asked
by nearly all forms of ethical
theories?
The problem with this sort of ethics is
that the ‘ ’ keeps changing.
Most ethical theories are concerned with the ‘
Immanuel Kant - our moral duty
Jeremy Bentham - greater good
However Virtue Ethics is concerned with the
of the
.
’.
A person who
has developed
good traits is
considered to be
a ‘virtuous’ person
and thus a
morally good
person.
Equally, if you
have developed
negative traits
or ‘vices’ you
are considered
a morally bad
person.
Deontological and teleological ethicists think that right behavior
comes before right character. Virtue theory puts this the other
way around – right character comes before right behavior.
What do you think?
Virtue theory
believes it is only by
becoming a better
people that we will
do the right thing.
Virtue theory is concerned
about the process of how
to become a moral person.
Once you have become a
moral person, you will do
the right thing.
Look at the five moral virtues below.
As a group try to define the meaning of each word and give
an example of each virtue in action.
Four Cardinal Virtues
Courage
Justice
Temperance
Wisdom
Eudaimonia derives from the Greek words ‘Eu’ meaning ‘good’ and
‘daimon’ meaning ‘spirit (within)’. This concept of a good inner
spirit (or feeling of wellbeing) is translated as ‘happiness’.
The ideal contains an element of deserved or justified happiness.
The only way to achieve eudaimonia is to truly deserve it and to
have worked tirelessly by developing virtuous character traits
and avoiding negative ones.
Q. Why might Aristotle say Mother Teresa gained eudaimonia?
For Aristotle, living among other people encouraged the virtues to
develop and the vises to disappear. Why would that be?
Debate:
• ‘Eudaimonia is unachievable, as it is too idealistic’
• Is achieving eudaimonia the ‘ultimate goal’ or can there be a
more altruistic goal that would be more important?
• Explain, with examples, how eudaimonia has intrinsic value.
Central to the ideas of virtue ethics are virtues we should aim for and
the vices we should avoid.
There are two different vices that accompany every virtue.
The vice of deficiency and the vice of excess.
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• The vice of deficiency is the distinct lack of virtues, e.g. The deficient
vice of modesty is shamelessness.
• The vice of excess is entirely too much of the virtue, e.g. The excessive
vice of modesty is shyness.
Either way, for Aristotle, moderation was key.
At some point between the two vices exists the virtue; this, Aristotle
referred to as the Doctrine of the Mean, or the ‘Golden Mean’. Aristotle
believed the virtue provided a balance of the extremes of the two vices.
This golden mean removed the negative aspects of each vice (excess
and deficiency) and provided a ‘pure’ virtue between them.
However, you cannot determine the virtue simply
by placing it midway between the two vices. It is
not as easy as that as different situations call for
different virtuous responses (e.g. Sometimes the
brave thing to do is to run away).
Virtuous
People
Restrained
People
Enjoy doing
good so face no
moral dilemma.
Mostly do the
virtuous thing
but have to
overcome moral
dilemmas
Incontinent (lack
self- restraint)
People
Face moral
conflict but
usually choose
the vice
Vicious
People
Do not attempt
to be virtuous
The Golden Mean
The doctrine of the mean
What type of
person are you?
Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean produces three types of person:
1. The sophron – naturally lives in the mean without effort.
2. The enkrates – tempted but has strong enough will power to live in the mean.
3. The akrates – (a person without will or weak-willed person) Cannot live in the
mean by overcoming temptation.
The mean is not the same for everyone. It depends on circumstance.
You must apply PHRONESIS to decide on the right course of action.
Phronesis is necessary as we grow up and move away
from rules and the demands of authority figures.
We become more autonomous and require a personcentred, virtue-centred morality.
Think of two major things you do in your life and work out what your
ultimate aim is for doing these things.
To do this, try to think of an initial action you do. Ask yourself why you
do that, then repeat the question to that answer until you reach the
ultimate aim.
E.g. One
Get up in morning?
To go to work
Go to work?
Have a career
Have a career?
Have a good life
Two
Three
For Aristotle the means to the aim and the aim itself have different
values. There are superior and subordinate aims. E.g. Getting up in the
morning is subordinate to earning a living. We do one thing to
accomplish a greater thing.
Ultimately, everything is subordinate to the
supreme good, which is happiness... Eudaimonia.
Q) Are there
some actions
that do not
have a mean?
Notes:
Q) At what
point do vices
become virtues
and virtues
become vices?
Q) Are virtues
a subjective
viewpoint of
individual moral
acts?
Q) Can a golden
mean refer to
the action alone
or does need a
motivation?
‘Who am I?’
Q What standards am I to measure myself against?

: Nicomachean Ethics
 11 virtues (the virtuous mean)
 4 cardinal virtues
 Prudence
If you’re not
 Justice
religious can you
 Temperance
still be virtuous?
 Courage
Are these really
suitable for the
21st C.?
Make a list of 7 virtues you think are suitable for the 21st century.
For each virtue, suggest a vice of deficiency and a vice of excess.
Give examples for each virtue, deficiency and excess.
Q
How will I know whether I’m measuring fairly?
Read the following four issues and allow yourself no more than
3 seconds to make a decision on each.
 You find a $5 bill just outside the main entrance.
 You come across a model answer online whilst researching an essay.
 You see a file marked ‘Personnel File: A.J. Moloney’ left in the library.
You’re asked if you have forgotten or not done your homework.
Banned Phrases:
- It depends.
- I’d probably.
- If it was...
- Ideally I’d...
‘We can know ourselves by considering how we act in spontaneous
situations: We reveal ourselves to ourselves when we act in the
unplanned world of ordinary life.’
Measurement of ‘self’ is only
correct if it matches how we
actually behave in unanticipated
situations. A critical and honest
self -knowledge is key, not one
based on wishful thinking.
Aristotle
‘Who ought I become?’
Virtues provide a way of estimating character , and suggests a
direction in which you should go in order to become a better person.
Virtue ethics, therefore, is a personcentered approach.
The moral goal
should not be to
do the things we
ought to do, but
be the person we
ought to be.
Task: List five rules a parent might give to their child.
Q What purpose do these rules serve?
Generally
parent’s
judgements
about their
children focus
on what type of
people their
children are
becoming and
how they can
help them
develop.
Task: Take a piece of paper and on it write
down three ethical issues.
Now, turn it over and write on it three things
you would like to improve about yourself.
Virtue ethicists see the second side of the
paper as the real issues of ethics. The big
controversial issues in life can be addressed
only after having promoted a virtuous life.
‘How am I to get there?’
‘Prudence’
For both Aristotle
and Aquinas,
prudence is not
simply another word
for ‘caution’.
Prudence is the
virtue of someone
who thinks both
practically and
realistically. Who
not only sets
realistic ends but
works towards
achieving them. The
prudent person
knows how to grow.
Q What does this virtue
conjure up in your mind?
Virtue ethics is not a
tug-of-war against
good and evil, rather it
is finding the mean
between the evils of
deficiency and excess.
Prudence looks for the mean. However, getting
the mean is not always easy. If I needed
to combat my fear of heights, where
would be the best place to stand?
The mean is not fixed. It is specific
to each individual. And therefore,
prudence is all the more important.
A parent might be
accused of not
treating each
child exactly the
same. But if they
did, then only one child
would grow adequately.
Instead, parents appreciate
the unique needs of each
child and so try to address
each child as unique.
Aquinas said ‘Every
human action is a
moral action.’ That is,
any action I perform is
a moral action because
it affects me as a moral
person. If I use the time
when I drive to work to
reflect on the
day, I become
a reflective
person. But, If
I drive aggressively I
arrive at work with the
manic personality that
got me there. Aquinas
saw every human
action as an exercise
that makes me the
person I will become.
‘Virtuous Exercises’
When thinking of exercise we think of athletes. The person who exercises by
running eventually becomes a runner just as the one who dances becomes a
dancer. Both Aristotle and Aquinas believed if we can develop ourselves
physically, we can develop ourselves morally by intended, habitual activity.
Virtue ethics is concerned
not only about if a doctor
maintains professional
ethics, but it is equally
concerned with their
private life. In other
words, before a doctor is
a doctor, they are a
person. That is what
virtue ethics is primarily
concerned about.
Virtue ethics is pro-active, in that it doesn’t
wait for the moral dilemma to
come along and be fixed. It is
not the ER of ethics that seeks
to react to each situation as it comes rushing
in. It seeks to continually
exercise a virtuous (moral)
lifestyle so as to be fine
tuned so it may respond,
not react, to moral issues.
In short, virtues need to be
practiced to be perfected.