Virtue Ethics Flashcards

Question

What did Alasdair MacIntyre think about modern morality?

Answer 1

It has suffered a catastrophe and has lost sights of its roots. Modern philosophers have thrown the baby out with the bath water. We have lost moral wisdom

Answer 2

"We have... lost our comprehension... of morality"

Answer 3

Ancient Greek. Great heroes like Achilles and Odysseus show a vision of morality, you are what you do. To judge a man is to judge his actions.

Answer 4

Who am I? Who ought I to become? How do I get there? Virtues provide a way of estimating character, and suggest a direction in which you should go in order to become a better person.

Answer 5

By knowing and understanding ourselves, we can practise to be better. Keenan likens this to good parenting.

Answer 6

The judgements of virtuous people.

Answer 7

Virtues are understood from within a community who live in a certain way. Took this idea from the idea of the Christian community, a community developing and learning to walk in Jesus' footsteps. Like the Buddhist Sangha where monks seek to live good and virtuous lives.

Answer 8

We must think practically and realistically. Our goals must be achievable.

Answer 9

Understanding the people of the modern world- the manager, the aesthete and the therapist.

Answer 10

Philosophers have neglected the subject of virtues and vices. She argues virtues are beneficial in as much as human beings do not seem to get on well without them. Just as people need strength and health, they need virtues. Virtues are a corrective against temptations.

Answer 11

Foot uses the example from the novel 'a single pebble'. "His action, which could have been mulled over in his mind, showed a deep, instinctive love of life"

Answer 12

If you are tempted to steal it shows your weakness in lack of virtue. If you are tempted to steal to save your impoverished family, you are virtuous by resisting it.

Answer 13

The city of Siena was governed by secular authorities distinct from the church, so it reflects an idea relevant to secular ethical thinking in the modern world. Both scenes have a corresponding government which is depicted through figures of the virtues and vices and some scenes of governance. The virtues are shown to be not just for those in government, but every citizen. Dire consequences follow if people's hearts are governed by vices rather than virtues.

Answer 14

You must look at the upbringing, education and general behaviour of people on a day to day basis. To simply look at a moral dilemma is to miss a crucial element of the work of the theory. Nevertheless, it is thought that good actions will come from the virtuous person:that charitable acts follow from charity

Answer 15

Virtue theory encompasses all aspects rather than particular actions. Virtue theory provides an alternative route for drawing on the tradition of moral philosophy. It avoids the pitfalls of ethical systems that adopt moral absolutes without indicating his people can learn to be moral in the way the absolutes suggest. It is an alternative ethical model that fits Christian ethics as it focuses on the kind of person we should be

Answer 16

- Romantic nostalgia of ancient values. MacIntyre is in danger of misplaced nostalgia. Modern philosophers have more to contribute to ethics than MacIntyre suggests - Virtue theory does not provide answers to specific moral dilemmas such as euthanasia, nor does it provide a list of intolerable acts such as murder which we might want to condemn outright. Ethical theories are though to provide such guidance but virtue theory does not do that.

Answer 17

Virtue theory brings a focus on human growth rather than a focus on legislation and judiciary of morality, the focus on what is right or wrong. It is concerned with how people can become moral, rather than simply what is moral an immoral. Other theories might judge actions or choices, but they do not offer suggestions about hope people may become better at being good. Although arguably virtues supplement rather than replace deontological ethics

Answer 18

Virtue theory requires some sense of an idea about what human beings should be like, what they should be becoming, and from that idea the virtues are drawn. If human nature is more diverse than virtue theorists suggest then there is a difficulty. Just as MacIntyre tends to think in terms of the importance of community and tradition in agreeing on the virtues, in an increasingly diverse society with more attention being paid to different lifestyles and distinct personality types, it might be that a single list of virtues and vices is not suitable. They are flourishing in different ways. The kind of community in which people are united in a common project of character development envisaged by MacIntyre might be unrealistic in a modern diverse world.

Answer 19

Virtue ethics is closely associated with religious traditions. Aristotle's idea of virtue ethics was embraced by Aquinas and has gone on to remain prominent in current Christian thinking. Both Buddhism and Hinduism are concerned about the nature of the person, their motivations and intentions as much as their acts

Virtue Ethics Flashcards

(43 cards)