Lesson 7: Virtue Ethics

Question 1

A branch of ethics that aims to provide a factual report of how people behave, decide, and act in society

Answer 1

Descriptive Ethics

Question 2

• Branch of ethics that prescribes what should or shouldn’t be done due to obligation
• It prescribes what we ought to maintain as our standards or bases for moral valuation

Answer 2

Normative Ethics

Question 3

• The ethical framework that is concerned with understanding good as a matter of developing the virtuous character of a person
• Person-based ethics; quality of being morally good
• It provides guidance as to the sort of characteristics and behaviour of a good person will seek to achieve

Answer 3

Virtue Ethics

Question 4

Theological virtues

Faith, hope, charity, love

Answer 4

Cardinal Virtues

Question 5

What does Virtue Ethics teach?

Answer 5

An action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances

Question 6

Who is a Virtuous Person?

Answer 6

• By acting…. as the virtous person acts… doing what one should, when one should and in the way one should….And the virtous person comes to take pleasure in acting virtuously
• A person acts virtuously if they “possess and live the virtues“

Question 7

According to Alasdair MacIntye, these are the 3 questions to ask at the heart of moral thinking:

Answer 7

• Who am I?
• Who ought I to become?
• How ought I to get there?

Question 8

Moral Virtue vs Intellectual Virtue

Answer 8

MORAL VIRTUE
- Virtue attained by means of habit
- A morally virtuous person habitually determines the good and does the right actions

INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE
- The excellence of thinking and use of reason

Question 9

How does an action count as virtuous?

Answer 9

According to Aristotle, when one holds oneself in a stable equilibrium of the soul, in order to choose the action knowingly and for its own sake

Question 10

Two major thinkers of Nichomachean Ethics

Answer 10

Plato and Aristotle

Question 11

This ethics advances an understanding of ethics known as virtue ethics because of its heavy reliance on the concept of virtue

Answer 11

Nicomachean Ethics

Question 12

Happiness and Ultimate Purpose:

Answer 12

• Every act that a person does is directed toward a particular purpose, aim or what the Greeks called telos
• Aristotle is aware that one does an act not only to achieve a particular purpose but also believes such purpose can be utilized for a higher goal or activity, which then can be used to achieve an even higher purpose and so on.
• The highest good of a man must be final and self-sufficient. For Aristotle, this is Eudaimonia.
• What defines a person therefore is her function or activity of reason. Any human being can perform the activity of reason; thus, being human is achievable.

Question 13

Virtue as Excellence:

Answer 13

• Achieving the highest purpose of a human person concerns the ability to function according to reason and to perform an activity well or excellently. This excellent way of doing things is called virtue or arete by the Greeks.

Question 14

For Aristotle, the human soul is divided into two parts. These are:

Answer 14

• Irrational faculty, divided into:

1. Vegetative aspect
2. Appetitive aspect

• Rational faculty

Question 15

• Functions as giving nutrition and providing the activity of physical growth of a person
• Follows the natural processes involved in the physical activities and growth of a person
• Irrational, because it isn’t dictated by reason

Answer 15

Vegetative Aspect

Question 16

• Works as the desiring faculty of man

Answer 16

Appetitive Aspect

Question 17

• Faculty in man where reason is applied

Answer 17

Rational Faculty

Question 18

2 Divisions of Rational Faculty:

Answer 18

Moral Faculty
Concerns the act of doing

Intellectual Faculty
Concerns the act of knowing

Question 19

Two ways to attain intellectual excellence:

Answer 19

Philosophic Wisdom

• Deals with attaining knowledge about the fundamental principles and truth that govern the universe

Practical Wisdom

• Is an excellence in knowing the right conduct in carrying out a particular acts.
• In other words, one can attain wisdom that can provide us with a guide on how to behave in our daily lives
• In carrying out a morally virtuous life, one needs the intellectual guide of practical wisdom in steering the self toward the right choices and actions.

Question 20

• Is acquired through habit.
• Being morally good is a process of getting used to doing the proper act

Answer 20

Moral Rational Faculty

Question 21

Therefore, for Aristotle, a good person:

Answer 21

Habitually chooses the good and consistently does good deeds

Question 22

Moral Virtue and Mesotesm

Answer 22

• As stated by Aristotle, developing a practical wisdom involves learning from experiences. Knowledge is not inherent to a person.
• As maintained by Aristotle, it is the middle, intermediate, or mesotes for the Greeks that is aimed at by a morally virtuous person.
• Based on Aristotle, a morally virtuous person is concerned with achieving his/her appropriate action in a manner that is neither excessive nor deficient