VIRTUE ETHICS: ARISTOTLE Practical Wisdom or “phronesis” – It is an
acquired trait that enables its possessor to
It is an approach to ethics that treats the concept
identify the thing to do in any given situation.
of moral virtue as central. Virtue ethics usually
contrasted with two other major approaches in
FOUR FORMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS
ethics, consequentialism and deontology, which
make the goodness of outcomes of an action
1. EUDAIMONIST VIRTUE ETHICS
(consequentialism) and the concept of moral duty
For Aristotle, Happiness or The Good Life is the
(deontology) central.
highest goal can be achieved by a lifetime of
Virtue Ethics - The Theory actively exercising moral virtues or arete.
Human end goal is happiness
Virtue theory is the view that the foundation
Eudaimonia is a Greek word literally translating
of morality is in the development of good
to the state or condition of ‘good spirit’, which is
characters traits, or virtues, not good acts.
commonly translates as ‘happiness’ or ‘welfare’
A person is good, then, if he has virtues and Eudaimonia
lacks vices. Take responsibility
Typical virtues include courage, temperance, Focus on what you can control
justice, prudence, fortitude, liberality, and Live with arete virtue (Live each day, each
truthfulness. moment to the fullest)
TWO CONCEPTS OF VIRTUE ETHICS.
2. AGENT – BASED AND EXEMPLARIST
1. Virtue, a virtue is an excellent trait of VIRTUE ETHICS
character. It is a disposition, well embedded in Argue rather than deriving the normativity of virtue
its possessor. To possess a virtue is to be a from the value on eudaimonia, other forms of
certain sort of person with a certain complex normativity, including eudaimonia, are traced
mindset. back to and ultimately explained in terms of the
motivational and dispositional qualities of moral
In virtue ethics, a virtue is a morally good agents.
disposition to think, feel and act well in some
domain of life. Similarly, a vice is a morally 3. TARGET–CENTERED VIRTUE ETHICS
bad disposition involving thinking, feeling, and Christine Swanton develops the target-
acting badly. Virtues are not everyday habits; centered view.
they are character traits, in the sense that they Christine Swanton a philosopher at the
are central to someone’s personality and what University of Auckland and author of Virtue
they area as a person. A virtue is a trait that Ethics: A Pluralistic View (2003).
makes its possessor a good person, and a Take the virtues as basic, and focus more on
vice is one that makes its possessor a bad how one can have a virtue, how virtues
person. interact, and how we can build a theory of right
action out of a theory of virtue ethics
2. Practical Wisdom. Another aspect in which Swanton argued that this untutored
one can easily fall short of full virtue is through understanding can be clarified and
the lack of phronesis, which is moral or improvement, and it is one of tasks of the
practical wisdom. virtue ethicist to help.
When we think of virtue, its concept is related a. It’s field
to something that makes its possessor good— b. Its mode of responsiveness
a virtuous person is morally good, excellent or c. It’s basis of acknowledgement, and
admirable person who acts and feels as he d. It’s target
should.
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Swanton “is a disposition to respond to, or Aquinas thinks the cardinal virtues provide
acknowledge items within its field in an general templates for most salient form of moral
excellent or good enough way’’ activity:
1. Commanding action (prudence)
4. PLATONIC VIRTUE ETHICS
2. Giving to those what is due (justice)
Takes its inspiration from Plato
3. Curbing the passions (temperance); and
The Socrates’ of Plato’s dialogues devotes a
4. Strengthening the passions against fear
great deal of time asking his fellow Athenians
(courage).
to explain the nature of virtues like justice,
courage, piety and wisdom. Thomas Aquinas identified four essential virtues
Timothy Chappell takes the defining feature which are indicative of human goodness:
of Platonistic virtue ethics to be that ‘’good
1. Prudence;
agency in the truest and fullest sense
Fr. Delfin Babilonia tried to expound on the
presupposes the contemplation of the form of
meaning of the term, prudence “is the
the good’’ in his book The Handbook of Virtue
quality of being wise in practical affairs, as
Ethics (2014).
by providing something for the future.”
Chappell argues that by constantly attending
Taking the same sense in ethics, in order
to our needs, our desires, our passions and
our thoughts skews our perspective on what for us to act well, we need to make good
the world is actually like and blinds us to the judgment about how we should behave.
good around us. This is precisely the sort of habit
Chappell believe that contemplating the associated with prudence, which Aquinas
goodness of something is to carefully attend to defines as “wisdom concerning human
it for its own sake, in order to understand it. affairs” or “right reason with respect to
Contemplating such goodness with regularity action.”
makes room for new habits of thought that 2. Temperance;
focus more readily and more honestly on For Aquinas, temperance has twofold
things other than self. meaning. In a general sense, the term
denotes a kind of moderation common to
every moral virtue.
VIRTUE ETHICS: AQUINAS AND THE Temperance concerns the moderation of
NATURAL LAW physical pleasures, specially those
associated with eating, drinking, and sex.
St. Thomas Aquinas is generally regarded as 3. Courage;
the West pre-eminent theorist of the natural law. The cardinal virtue of temperance and its
Aquinas however, believes that we can never subsidiary virtues restrain the strong
achieve complete or final happiness in this life. He appetite, such as the sexual appetite, but
teaches that final happiness consists in living out courage and its subsidiary virtues modify
the message of the beatitude, or supernatural what Thomas Aquinas calls the irascible
union with God. appetite.
By "irascible appetite” he means the desire
Aquinas asserts that every law is ultimately for that which is difficult to attain or avoid.
derived from what he calls the eternal law. By 4. Justice;
eternal law, he refers to God’s providential design
The virtue of justice governs our
that all created things would attain their proper
relationships with others. Specifically, it
end.
denotes a sustained or constant
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willingness to extend to each person what Immanuel Kant that is based on the notion that: "It
he or she deserves. is impossible to think of anything at all in the
For our class discussion, we will mention world, or indeed
only two sets of distinctions:
1. Legal (or general) and particular
justice, and UTILITARIANISM
2. Commutative and distributive
Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that asserts
justice.
that we should always act, so as to produce the
KANT AND RIGHTS THEORISTS greatest possible ration of good to evil for
everyone concerned. An act is good or morally
Immanuel Kant was one of the most influential
right if it produces greatest happiness to the
European thinkers of the 18th century.
greatest number of people, and bad or immoral if
Immanuel Kant began his ethical theory by it produces more harm or pain.
arguing that the only virtue that can be
Utilitarianism is a theory of morality that
unqualifiedly good is a good will. No other virtue
advocates actions that foster happiness or
has this status because every other virtue can be
pleasure and oppose actions that cause
used to achieve immoral ends (for example, the
unhappiness or harm.
virtue of loyalty is not good if one is loyal to an evil
person). JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)
He believed that to be full virtuous is to have a Was an English Philosopher and political radical.
good will that is firmly resolved and fully ready to He is primarily known today for his moral
overcome temptations to immorality. philosophy, especially his principle of
utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon
Immanuel Kant proposed the principle of rights
their consequences.
theory.
Jeremy Bentham was the father of utilitarianism, a
RIGHTS THEORY
moral theory that argues that actions should be
In exchange for safety, the people who are judged right or wrong to the extent the increase or
governed trusted the government with the power decrease human well-being or utility
to implement laws. Therefore, government had no
power to violate the trust by passing laws relating
to the promised freedom of the people. THE HEDONIC CALCULUS
TWO TYPES OF RIGHT THEORY Six criteria for evaluating pleasure and pain by
measurement alone.
Categorical imperative binds us regardless of our
desires: everyone has a duty to not lie, regardless INTENSITY: The less intense the pleasure of an
of circumstances and even if it is in our interest to action, the less valuable that action is. However, if
do so. the action leads to intense pleasure, then, its
value goes way up.
Hypothetical imperative is one that we must obey
if we want to satisfy our desires: go to the doctor' DURATION: The duration of the pleasure caused
is a hypothetical imperative because we are only by an act must also be taken into account when
obliged to obey it if we want to get well. assessing the goodness of the act. (How long you
will have a happiness in the certain action)
CERTAINTY: The certainty criteria refer to the
Kantian ethics refers to a deontological ethical
probability of the pleasure resulting from the act.
theory developed by German philosopher
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Basically, it means how likely a certain action will long-term good is less certain than the immediate
cause a particular action. good, we may prefer the immediate good.
PROPINQUITY: The more distant the benefits, 3rd point;
either space or time, the less weight we should
To determine the greatest impossible ration of
give them in making our decision, that is, how
good to evil for everyone, we must consider
long will it take for the pleasure of the action to
unhappiness or pain as well as happiness.
take effect.
4th point;
FECUNDITY: This refers to the likelihood that the
pleasures or pains that it causes will be followed If you are choosing between actions, one of which
by similar pleasures or pains. you should prefer over the other, choose the one
that produces the greatest net happiness. It is
PURITY: An act that causes only pleasure is
obvious that you should not disregard your own
better than one that causes the same amount of
pleasure, but you should not give it added weight
pleasure mixed with a little pain.
either.
EXTENT: The more people enjoy the pleasure,
Count yourself as one vote among the many.
the better.
JOHN STUART MILL
TWO FORMS OF UTILITARIANISM
According to Stuart Mill, principle says
actions are right in proportion as they tend to Act of utilitarianism – asserts that the principle of
promote overall human happiness. utility should be applied to individual actions,
He says that the greatest happiness principle practices, or policies.
holds that actions are right in proportion as
– Looks at the consequences of each individual
they tend to promote happiness.
act and calculates utility each time the act is
He believes that pleasures differ from each performed.
other in kind and quality, not only in quantity.
He contends that pleasures of the intellect and Rule of utilitarianism – states that the principle of
imagination have a higher value than the utility should be applied primarily to rules of
pleasures of mere sensation. actions, and not to individual action. It means that
we should do what is required by valid moral
rules. A valid moral rule is defined as one that
FOUR KEY POINTS ABOUT UTILITARIANISM would lead to the greatest happiness if everyone
followed it.
1st point;
– Looks at the consequences of having everyone
Utilitarian's in speaking of right and wrong acts follow a particular rule and calculates the overall
refers to those over which we exercise to control, utility of accepting or rejecting the rule.
those that are voluntary. This does not follow that
we must premeditated the action.
2nd point;
Is referring to the greatest possible ratio of good
to evil, utilitarianism does not indicate a
preference for immediate or remote good. Their
focus is on greatest.
If the long-term good will be greater than the short
term, we should prefer it, and vice versa. Where
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