Ethics
Chapter Six
Virtue Ethics
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics
Virtue Ethics centers in the heart and
personality of the agent, in their character
Virtue Ethics emphasizes being, being a
certain kind of person who will no doubt
manifest their being in actions or non action
The question is “What sort of person should I
become”
Virtue Ethics seeks to produce excellent
people Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Teresa…
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Bishop and the Candlesticks by Hugo
What was Valijean’s original sentence for and
how long was he imprisoned?
Where did he stop along the way?
• What did Valijean ask for? (bed, meal…)
• What did he receive? (bed, meal, respect
…)
• What was the Bishop’s idea about, visitors,
the house and items in the house (poor?)
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Bishop and the Candlesticks by Hugo
Why do you think the Bishop didn’t lecture
Valijean, ask his country, history or crime?
Why was Valijean concerned about where he
slept?
What did Valijean do to repay the Bishop for
his kindness?
How did the Bishop respond to Valijean’s
actions with the residents, to Valijean?
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Virtues are traits that enable us to live well in
communities
While the intellectual virtues may be taught
directly, the moral ones must be lived in order
to be learned
The moral life consists in moderation, living in
accordance with the “Golden Mean” and
middle ground between extremes
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Every action and purpose, may said to aim at
some good and the ends are sometimes the
results beyond the mere activities, ends are
beyond the action
• Take the act of making bridles
• This results in horsemanship
• Which results in military action
Other arts or sciences are combined for
others
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
But there are some actions which are done for
their own sake and this end will be labeled as
the “Supreme Good”
The good of an individual by himself is
something worth working for to ensure the
good of a nation or state and this is nobler
and more divine
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
The life on money making is a life of
constraint
It is useful merely as a means to something
else
• In medicine it is health
• In strategy, victory
• In architecture, a house
It is evident that these are not final ends
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
But the highest good is clearly something final
and this is what we should be searching
Happiness is something we desire for its own
sake and never as a means to something else
Happiness is something final and self
sufficient and the end fo all action
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Moral virtues can best be acquired by practice
and habit
They imply a right attitude toward pleasures
and pains
Intellectual virtues originated and are fostered
mainly by teaching, it demands experience
and time
Moral virtue is the outcome of habits and is
not implanted in us by nature
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
The life on money making is a life of
constraint
It is useful merely as a means to something
else
Sensual pleasures, honor and virtue are ends
in themselves
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Nature gives us the capacity to receive to
receive virtues, and that capacity is perfected
by habit
We first possess the proper faculties and
afterwards display the activities
• We become builders by building
If this were not so, there would be no need of
anybody to teach ethics
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
So, it is our actions in the dealings we have
with others that we become just or unjust
But, how do we become good ?
A commonly acceptable principle is that we
should act in accordance with right reason
But, at the same time we should always take
into consideration the circumstances of the
actors and done in moderation (too much is
bad to little is bad)
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
The doer at the time of performing the acts
must satisfy certain conditions
• He must know what he is doing
• He must deliberately choose to do it and do
it for its own sake
• He must do it as part of his own firm and
immutable character
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
The just man becomes just by doing what is
just
If a man did not act, he would not have much
chance of becoming good
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Virtue is a state of deliberate moral purpose
consisting of a mean relative to ourselves
How do we determine these means?
• The mean is determined by reason or as a
prudent man would determine
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
But not every action or emotion admits a
mean
Some actions are just wicked and it is never
possible to be right in them
• They are always sinful
• However these acts are done the are done
wrong
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Moral virtue is a mean, and in what sense it is
so, that it is a mean as lying between two
vices
Anybody can give or spend money, but to give
it to the right person, to give the right amount
of it, at the right time, for the right cause and
in the right
This is not what anybody can do, nor is it easy
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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Ethics by Aristotle
Aristotle concludes we ought to aim at one
time towards an excess and at another
towards a deficiency
It this way we shall most easily hit the mean
and reach excellence
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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and the Moral Life by Mayo
The saints and heroes show us that a living
example, not rigid rules, is important in ethics
We learn more about ethics by looking at the
lives of such people than by learning a set of
principles
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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and the Moral Life by Mayo
Being involves doing, whereas an ethics of
doing, such as I have been examining, may
easily overlook it
A morality of principles is concerned only with
what people do or fail to do
People might well have no moral qualities at
all except the possession of principles and the
will to act accordingly
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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and the Moral Life by Mayo
What ought I to do?
• The answer must be derived from a
conjunction of premises consisting firstly of
a rule
• And secondly a statement to effect that this
is a situation of that type falling under that
rule
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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and the Moral Life by Mayo
What ought I to do?
• What if I encounter a case without
precedent in my moral career
• Then I must create a new rule about what I
should do now and in the future
• Suppose the new rule is inconsistent with
my existing moral code
• Now I need a whole new set of rules and
new principles to live by
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Virtue Ethics
 Virtue
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and the Moral Life by Mayo
What ought I to do?
• So, the question is answered, not by
quoting a rule or set of rules, but by
describing a quality of character or type of
person
• The heroes and saints did not merely give
us principles to live by, they gave us
examples to follow
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
The legend was that a child would be born in
the area who was destined to become the
greatest and noblest personage of his time
and image in adulthood should bear the exact
resemblance to the Great Stone Face
Ernest longed to see such a man
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
There was the wealthy merchant Mr.
Gathergold who everyone believed was the
spitting image of Old Stone Face
But as time went by people no longer believed
him bear any resemblance to the Great Stone
Face and would not be the man who would
fulfill the legend
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
Next there was Old Blood and Thunder a war
veteran
Ernest thought that the person to complete
the legend would be a man of peace, uttering
wisdom, doing good and making people
happy
Although everyone remarked that Old Blood
and thunder looked like the Old Stone Face,
Ernest could not see it, other lost faith too
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
During the time Ernest waited for the legend
to be fulfilled he became a preacher
His words and thought were completed in the
good deeds that he accomplished
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
Then came a eminent statesman
He was very well spoken and everyone again
thought this was the man that would satisfy
the prophecy
Townspeople thought he bore a resemblance
to the Great Stone Face
Once again Ernest couldn’t see it and was
disappointed
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Virtue Ethics
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
Meanwhile, Ernest’s reputation had grown
outside the valley
College professors came to converse with
Ernest
Ernest had ideas unlike those of other men
not gained from books, but from a higher tone
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Virtue Ethics
 The
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Great Stone Face by Hawthorne
Finally, a poet came to prominence and he
was hailed as the one who would be the one
to answer the prophecy
Once again, Ernest was not convinced this
was the man who would complete the legend
It was the poet who discovered that Ernest
was the person to fulfill the prophecy
But Ernest would not accept that honor and
walked away still waiting for another
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
For every virtue there must be some possible
action to which the virtue corresponds and
form which it derives its virtuousness
The virtue of truthfulness corresponds to the
principle of truth
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
Virtues are dispositions or traits that are not
wholly innate
They must all be acquired at least in part by
teaching and practice
They all involve a tendency to do certain kinds
of actions in certain kinds of situations not just
to think or feel in certain ways
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
Morality should be conceived as primarily
concerned with, not rules or principles, by with
the cultivation of such dispositions or traits of
character
So, what dispositions or traits are moral
virtues?
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
Trait egoism replies that the virtues are the
dispositions that are most conducive to one’s
own good or welfare
Trait utilitarianism says virtues are those traist
that most promote the general good
Trait deontological hold that certain traits are
morally good simply as such
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
The Greeks believed there were four cardinal
virtues
• Wisdom
• Courage
• Temperance
• Justice
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
The Christians had seven cardinal virtues
• The Theological Virtues:
 Faith, Hope, Love
• The Human Virtues:
 Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance and
Justice
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
Ethics of virtue seem to provide for such an
aspiration more naturally than an ethics of
duty of principle
Moral saints and heroes who go beyond the
merely good man
They serve as an inspiration to others to be
better and do more than they would otherwise
be or do
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Virtue Ethics
 A Critique
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of Virtue Based Ethical Systems
For use to accomplish this we must somehow
attain and develop an ability to be aware of
others as persons, as important to themselves
as wer are to ourselves and to have a lively
and sympathetic representation in imagination
of their interests and of the effects of our
actions on their lives
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