Virtue Ethics Flashcards

1
Q

What is VE?

A
  • Aristotle
  • Character based
  • States that we should develop virtues to reach Eudaimonia or ‘human flourishing’.
  • Aristotle rejects happiness from pleasure e.g., sex, as even cattle can experience them.
  • Rejects seekers of honour or wealth as they can be easily lost which was applicable as Aristotle mostly convened with members of the upper classes and politicians.
  • The function argument states that we should do good to reach this Eudaimonia.
  • Aristotle says that we do this by practising intellectual virtues to develop our rational soul.
  • There are two souls, rational which is developed through practicing intellectual virtues, and the non-rational soul which is developed through practicing character-based virtues.
  • Aristotle says that by developing this rational soul we can reach the eudaimonia of theoria.
  • Golden mean, middle ground between two vices of deficiency and excess.
  • Different virtues in the golden mean such as courage with excess being bashfulness and deficiency being cowardness, relevant to his time in battle.
  • Another prevalent example being friendship which ‘holds cities together and lawmakers are more serious about it than justice’.
  • Subordinate aim is something which helps to reach a superior aim.
  • For example, doing well in school to get a good job to make lots of money is the subordinate aim to the superior aim of being happy.
  • Aristotle states that the overall superior aim should be Eudaimonia.
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2
Q

What are the strengths of VE?

A
  • Provides clear guidance using the golden mean
  • Flexible, golden mean allows for extreme courage in some situations and restraint in others
  • Person centred.
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3
Q

What are the weaknesses of VE?

A
  • What happens when virtues conflict? Pojman comments, ‘virtue ethics has the problem of application’.
  • Religious objections, relies too heavily on individual, ignores rules of church.
  • Vague, no single overarching principle.
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