The Ethics of Virtue

Abraham Lincoln and the piglets....

The Ethics of Right Action vs. the Ethics of Virtue

Action ethics focuses on the rightness and wrongness of rules, obligations, and actions.

Virtue ethics focuses on character traits of the individual. 

Virtue Ethics...for the ancient Greeks...

Arete...

Character...

Habits...

Aristotle Followed teachings of

Socrates and Plato…the concept of "virtue"

“Man is by nature a social and rational animal…”

Aristotle...

Aristotle’s account of virtue is found in The Nichomachean Ethics, which he named in honor of his son Nichomachus.

Aristotle’s Virtue Theory: The elite are to be

guided by their will to excellence

The non-elite by their

sense of duty

Illustration from the

Nurnberg Chronicle 15thC.

An aside.... Nietzsche Like Aristotle,

Nietzsche saw the concept of duty (slave morality) as necessary and fit for those who could not achieve the higher morality of excellence

What are virtues? One answer…  Qualities which allow us to control our

emotions… The quality of courage helps us dominate

our fear.The quality of honesty helps us do the right

thing even when we are afraid of the consequences.

The quality of charity helps us overcome our selfishness.

Aristotle’s virtue theory:

Moral virtues are habits that regulate the desires of our appetitive nature

Most virtues are at a mean between two vicious habits

My moral actions are freely chosen and are an extension of my virtuous habits

Personification of Virtue in the Library at Ephesus

(the virtues of Roman Senators)

Somewhere along the way…

Virtue gave way to rules…

For Christianity, virtue lay in conducting one’s life according to the will of God…

Christianity stressed… Original Sin

The frailty of human character

The need for God’s help

After a thousand years of Christendom...The emphasis changed from doing the right thing for God to doing the right thing for other reasons... Because it will make living together easier

(Hobbes and Locke and social contract theory)

Because it will increase general well-being (Bentham and Mill)

Because it’s the right thing (Kant)

Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes’ Virtue Theory The pre-political state of nature for humans

is a condition of mutual conflict that contains no objective moral values

We achieve peace by mutually agreeing to give up our rights to harm each other (social contract)

To assure compliance, we create governments that punish those who break the agreements

David Hume:Catalog of VirtuesNatural virtues are those which do not change from one place or time to another…

compassion, generosity, gratitude, friendship, fidelity, charity, good sense, wit and humour, perseverance, patience, courage, parental devotion, good nature, cleanliness, etc.

David Hume:Catalog of VirtuesArtificial Virtues are those which are context specific and…

are developed to meet specific needs are developed by communities to suit

themselves are taught to new or young members aid in social cohesion contribute to social order and good

government

(Hume on Christian Virtues….) 'Celibacy, fasting, penance,

mortification, self denial, humility, silence, solitude, and the whole train of monkish virtues’ are, neither agreeable nor useful; they ‘stupefy the understanding and harden the heart, obscure the fancy and sour the temper.’

For Hume, all moral virtues fall into these categories…

(1) qualities useful to others

(2) qualities useful to oneself

(3) qualities immediately agreeable to others

(4) qualities immediately agreeable to oneself

Hume's theory: Moral agents perform actions that are

motivated by either instinctive or acquired character traits.

Recipients experience pleasure (pain) either immediately from the agent’s action, or from the usefulness (inconvenience) of that action.

Moral spectators sympathetically experience pleasure (pain) when observing the recipient’s pleasure (pain).

The moral spectator's pleasure (pain) constitutes his moral assessment of the agent's character trait, thereby deeming the trait to be a virtue (vice).

Immanuel Kant developed the classical formulation of deontological ethics.

right action consists solely in the conformity of an action to a justified rule or principle.

Wisdom....

Doing the right thing doesn’t make you a good person…

Being a good person makes you do the right thing…

Legalistic moralityGood conduct = obedience to moral law

God given: Divine Command

As dictated by Utility: Rule Utilitarianism

As dictated by pure reason: Kant

As dictated by society: Social Contract Theory

Legalistic vs. Virtue Ethics....

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Elizabeth Anscombe:Modern Moral Philosophy....1958 ...proposed that moral

philosophers should abandon their obsession with moral rules...with notions such as obligation and duty...

...recommended a return to Aristotle (and the development of a proper ‘moral psychology’)

Should We Return to the Ethics of Virtue?

Anscombe's complaint:

legalistic ethics rest on the incoherent notion of a "law" without a lawgiver

the alternative sources of moral "legislation" are inadequate substitutes

12.2 The Virtues (and the vices)...

Traits of character expressed by habitual patterns of behaviour

List virtues.... Remember that

virtues (and vices) are traits of character expressed by habitual patterns of behaviour

... ... ... ... ...

Aristotelian virtues... courage temperance Liberality greatness of soul good temper or

gentleness being agreeable in

company wittiness modesty

Virtues (and vices) are traits of character expressed by habitual patterns of behaviour

Aristotle....naturalistic background The purpose of

everything is to flourish...

Vegetative fulfillment Animalistic fulfillment Uniquely human

fulfillment

(to live according to reason)

Moral Virtues as Means between Vices of Excess & Defect

Example...Cowardice - Courage – Foolhardiness

What is wanted...facing dangers

at the right place, at the right time, for the right purposes.

Courage... Courage is a quality

so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice. 

-  Dr. Samuel Johnson

04/19/23 (c) Lawrence M. Hinman 34

Cleverness and Wisdom

The clever person knows the best means to any possible end.

The wise person knows which ends are worth striving for.

12:3 Advantages of Virtue Ethics...

Correct Account of moral motivation

Makes room for partiality

Speaks to feminist concern for the personal….instead of just male concern for the public

12.4 The Problem of Incompleteness... Virtue theory leaves

you flying by the seat of your pants...

Virtue theory isn’t much help in moral conflicts…

Hercules between Virtue and Vice

Emmanuel Benner (1836-1896)

A Young Man Between Virtue and Vice

Paolo Veronese 1528-1588

A Philosopher between Virtue and Vice

Orazio Samacchini 1532-1577

Whose actions are moral?

Does Karl exhibit virtues or vices?

What about the mother?