Lectures 12-13: Virtue Ethics & Introduction to Natural Law Theory PDF

Lectures 12-13: Virtue Ethics & Introduction to Natural Law Theory Basic Framework of Virtue Ethics: What type of a person should you be? Premise 1: An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent would do in similar circumstances. Premise 1a: A virtuous agent is one who acts virtuously, i...

Lectures 12-13: Virtue Ethics & Introduction to Natural Law Theory Basic Framework of Virtue Ethics: What type of a person should you be? Premise 1: An action is right iff it is what a virtuous agent would do in similar circumstances. Premise 1a: A virtuous agent is one who acts virtuously, i.e., one who has and exercises the virtues. Premise 2: A virtue is a character trait a human being needs to flourish or live well.  Overview of Ethical Systems: Virtue Ethics: Rather than focusing on what we ought to do, Virtue ethics offers a distinctive approach whereby we focus on human character asking the question, “What should I be?” Thus, ethical life involves envisioning ideals for human life and embodying those ideals in one’s life. Virtues are ways in which we embody those ideals. Virtue is an Aristotle says there Plato (c.427-347c): Socrates: Virtue is Knowledge. No one intentionally pursues what is wrong;. excellence of are 2 types of virtue: To be virtuous we Ignorance and forgetfulness are at fault intellectual virtues: must understand some sort. what contributes to when one does something wrong. Originally the excellences of the our overall good & Plato (c. 427-347) is concerned with the word meant mind (e.g., ability to have our desire quality of a person’s inner state & he (appetitive; workers), prized beauty, health, harmony, & “strength” and understand, reason, spirit (warriors), & strength of a soul as the virtues we referred to as & judge well); reason (ruler- should emulate. We must have a well- “manliness.” guardians) educated ordered soul whereby our appetites moral virtues: properly so they will (temperance), emotions (courage), and In Aristotle’s aggregate with the reason (wisdom) operate in their learned by ethics (arete) guidance provided by respective roles. When reason governs, repetition (e.g., the rational part of justice manifests itself from out of the is used which practicing honesty the soul (Books 2 & 3 well-ordered person. is trans. as we become honest. of Republic). When Aristotle (384-322): The function of man is “excellences To be virtuous these 3 parts of the reason (the good of the thing is when it of various soul conflict with requires knowledge, each other, it might performs its function well) which is types.” practice, & move us to act in peculiar to him. Thus, the function of man is reason and the life that is consistent effort at ways that go against distinctive of humans is the life in the greater good Aristotle: character building. “Must have knowledge, second (becomehe must incontinent). accordance with reason. If the function of man is reason, then the good man is choose the acts and choose them for their own the man who reasons well This is the life sakes, & finally his actions must proceed from a firm of excellence (eudaimonia; human flourishing & well-being). character” (1105a). Overview of Ethical Systems: Plato (427-347 B.C.) Plato believed our natural desires are greedy and depraved. Thus, they must be held in tight check by the powers of reason. He compared the human soul to a city-state made up of ruler-guardians, guardians, and the peasants/artisans. Every reality is an archetype of a corresponding eternal form. The goal of life is to actualize one’s true nature together with one’s many innate potentialities. 4 primary So long as If reason for The highest good integrated the individual a moment is the well-ordered virtues: Wisdom: is governed lets down its whole to which corresponds to by the power guard, then each part reason; courage: of reason, the desires contributes corresponds to and reason is will exert according to its the will: assisted by their power, own capacity. A temperance, courage and seize control, thing in reality is corresponds to will power and lead the good insofar as it desire: justice: (guardians), person to participates in & links individual the unruly corruption corresponds to the to society. desires can and form of the good be immorality. (which is the high suppressed. point of the forms).  Main Points to Know:  Plato writes dialogues rather than philosophical treatises. Hence, most of his philosophical positions are voiced through the character of Socrates. Even though Socrates was Plato's actual teacher, the positions and doctrines traditionally attributed to Socrates are actually Plato's account of his teacher. Socrates never wrote anything.  Plato advances a teleological conception of morality, "we live the good life insofar as we perform our distinctively human function well."  Main Points to Know:  The soul is divided into three parts: appetitive, spirit, and reason. Each part helps us to fulfill critical needs, but in Plato's view, only the rational part of the soul is fit to rule.  In order to live a virtuous life, it is necessary for the individual to cultivate balance in his/her soul. Thus, persons ruled by appetite or spirit (emotion) are "out of balance" and their actions are apt to provoke personal or social disharmony.  Main Points to Know:  Appetite: In cases where appetite rules (oligarchic and tyrannical characters fit here) individuals are at the mercy of the their biological or material whims. Alcohol addiction fits this profile. Individuals who are addicted to self-destructive patterns of behavior are apt to feed their appetites at the expense of other life pursuits. People can also be ruled by material greed in much the same way. The key here is that desire is determinative; these are cravings of the highest degree.  Main Points to Know:  Spirit: The emotional, passionate side of our character is centered on the idea of status on a social level. Ambition, desire for honor and glory, moral indignation, and cravings for admiration, all fit under the umbrella of spirit. Love relationships fit into this category as well. Our interactions with others provide core experiences that influence our emotional development.  Main Points to Know:  Reason: The intellectual, thinking part of the soul that must weigh options, decide between alternatives, and "suppress dangerous urges.“ Plato clearly puts reason in control of the soul because it acts as good counsel seeking understanding and insight before acting. Rational individuals possess a strong contemplative faculty. They think before they act and are unlikely to take rash action in any given situation.  Know Thyself:  Plato contends that each one of us performs/does one thing best. We each have one best skill and it is the development of this skill that is of paramount importance in creating a harmonious existence. If we do not have insight into what we do best, the chances of achieving a balanced soul are likely reduced. Hence the Socratic imperative, "know thyself."  Just Society: First ask yourself: is it possible to have a just society? What would it look like? How would we direct education, the economy, leisure, and social resources? What is fair?  Plato wrestles with the idea of justice in his most famous work entitled, The Republic. Plato views social justice exactly parallels his notion of individual justice. There are three parts of the soul and three corresponding divisions in the social order. The social order is constructed as follows: SOUL SOCIETY Reason Philosopher-King Spirit Auxiliaries/Guardians Appetite Craftsmen/Artisans/Traders  Overview of Ethical Systems: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Though we are naturally suited to moral goodness, we don’t automatically develop such inclinations Your Carefully cultivate moral Ideal of virtue is doing the habits & goodness by rigorous right thing because you inclination practice. want to do the right thing: s develop you desire to act virtuously. with practice; In order to desire to act what you virtuously you must If you act selfishly then you sow is carefully and consistently will become a selfish what you practice doing right until it person. Eventually what reap. becomes habitual & natural. feels right to you may be very wrong. With practice & diligence you can develop Thus, choose to be the habits & inclinations of a virtuous virtuous. Desire + person. judgment must agree.  What is Virtue Ethics? Virtue Ethics emphasizes the development of character as its central theme rather than trying to define 'goodness' or 'rightness'. It is a eudaimonistic theory as it holds 'happiness' to be our highest goal. According to Aristotle, we attain happiness by cultivating both intellectual and moral virtue. We become virtuous by habit: we deliberately and consistently choose the mean between excess and deficiency until it becomes second-nature.  What is Virtue Ethics? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Virtue = excellence:  Intellectual virtue can be taught.  A good person succeeds at rational activity.  Moral virtue is acquired through excellent habits.  We become good by doing good things.  We become virtuous by practicing virtuous acts.  On Becoming Agathos & Eudaimon From Aristotle’s Point of View: Cited from Michael Boylan, Basic Ethics (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000), 52. Step 1: Master the functional requirements within a given type of task or behavior. Master a good habit. Step 2: Possess the habitual mastery of the functional requirements to an appropriate degree. Possess habitual mastery of that habit. ` Step 3: Steps 1 & 2: excellence in that task or behavior. Achieve excellence in the habit. Step 4: Possess habitual excellence in a number of key tasks or behavior. Step 5: Possess habitual excellence in those tasks or behavior that the common opinion judges to be the most worthy. Step 6: Steps 4 & 5 leads to agathos. Step 7: Possessing Agathos leads to eudaimon. Thus, on balance, excellent traits in human character generally produce excellent actions.  Virtue Ethics: What kind of person should I be? What is a virtue? A virtue is a habit of excellence, a beneficial tendency, a skilled disposition that enables a person to realize the crucial potentialities that constitute proper human flourishing (eudaimonia). What is a habit? A disposition to think, feel, desire, and act in a certain way without having a tendency to consciously will to do so. What is a character: The sum-total of one’s habits, tendencies, and well-being. Four cardinal virtues: temperance, courage, prudence, and  Closer Look at Virtue:  “A virtue such as honesty or generosity is not just a tendency to do what is honest or generous, nor is it to be helpfully specified as a "desirable" or "morally valuable" character trait. It is, indeed a character trait — that is, a disposition which is well entrenched in its possessor, something that, as we say "goes all the way down", unlike a habit such as being a tea-drinker — but the disposition in question, far from being a single track disposition to do honest actions, or even honest actions for certain reasons, is multi-track. It is concerned with many other actions as well, with emotions and emotional reactions, choices, values, desires, perceptions, attitudes, interests, expectations and sensibilities. To possess a virtue is to be a certain sort of person with a certain complex mindset. (Hence the extreme recklessness of attributing a virtue on the basis of a single action)” ~ Stanford Encyclopedia  Three Central Themes:  Three Central Themes: A. Virtue (arete): A habit of excellence, a beneficial tendency, a skilled disposition that enables a person to realize the crucial potentialities that constitute proper human flourishing.  A habit is a disposition to think, feel, desire, and act in a certain way without having a tendency to will consciously to do so.  “Character” may be defined as the sum-total of one’s habits. C. Eudaimonia (Human Flourishing; Successful Living): C. Phronesis (practical wisdom): How?  Practice The Golden Mean: Be moderate in all things to an appropriate degree; avoid both deficiency and excessiveness; cultivate proper virtues that are deemed most worthy by your community;  Mimic, follow the virtuous person.  Practical Wisdom (Phronesis):  A good person consistently does the right thing at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reason.  There is no rule for becoming good, or for distinguishing good from bad, right from wrong.  Practical wisdom: ability to draw the right distinctions and tell right from wrong. A Character Trait is a Virtue IFF it is conducive to eudaimonia: The Golden Mean: Virtue Excess Deficiency Sphere Courage Rashness Cowardice Danger Temperance Self-indulgence Insensibility Sensual pleasure Liberality Wasteful Stinginess Money Magnificence Vulgarity Penny pinching Great wealth Pride Vanity Humility Honor & self-respect Right Ambition Overly ambitious Lack of ambition Honor Good temper No emotion Quick-temper Insult Ready wit Buffoonishness Boorishness Humor Truthfulness Boastfulness Modesty Self-description Friendliness Flattery Quarrelsome Social association Shame Bashfulness Pretense Wrongdoing Righteous Spite Envy Fortune of others Justice Greed ? Scarce goods  Virtue (courage) People Degree Vice (cowardice) Duration Vice (Rashness) Objects Occasions Brutish  Virtue as a Mean:  We must give in to desire in the right circumstances, in the right way, for the right reason, etc.  Practical wisdom allows us to find the mean.  There’s no rule for doing this.  You must learn to see what is right  Virtue as a Mean  Virtues are means between extremes  Virtues constrain desires  But we may constrain too little or too much MODERATION IN ALL THINGS IS PARAMOUNT! In the virtuous person, desire and judgment agree whereby the choices and actions will be free of the conflict and pain that inevitably accompany those who are akratic and/or enkratic: The enkratic: The akratic: The enkratic is the The akratic is the morally strong morally weak person person who shares who desires to do the akratic agent’s other than what he desire to do other knows ought to be than what he knows done and acts on ought to be done, this desire against but acts in his better judgment. accordance with his better judgment. In neither kind of choice are desire and judgment in harmony. In the virtuous desire and judgment agree.  Why does desire and judgment agree for the virtuous?  The reason why the choices and actions will be free of the conflict and pain that inevitably accompanies those of the akratic and enkratic agent is because the part of their soul that governs choice and action is so disposed that desire and judgment coincide. The disposition is concerned with choices as would be determined by the person of practical wisdom (phronesis); these will be actions lying between extreme alternatives. They will lie in a man- popularly called the “golden mean”-relative to the talents and stores of the agent.  Why does desire and judgment agree for the virtuous?  Choosing in this way is not easily done. It involves, for instance, feeling anger or extending generosity at the right time, toward the right people, in the right way, and for the right reasons. Intellectual virtues, such as excellence at mathematics, can be acquired by teaching, but moral virtues cannot. I may know what ought to be done and even perform virtuous act without being able to act virtuously. Nonetheless, because moral virtue is a disposition concerning choice, deliberate performance of virtuous acts can, ultimately, instill a disposition to choose them in harmony and with pleasure, and hence, to act virtuously.  What does it take to be fully virtuous? The fully virtuous do what they should without a struggle against contrary desire; possess practical wisdom (phronesis) which is the knowledge or understanding that enables its possessor to do just that in any given situation. Most contend that phronesis comes out of at least three sources: 1. Comes only with the experience of life. The virtuous are mindful of the consequences of possible actions. How could they fail to be reckless, thoughtless and short-sighted if they were not? Moreover, they have developed the capacity to recognize some features of a situation as more important than others, or indeed, in that situation, as the only relevant ones. The wise do not see things in the same way as the nice adolescents who, with their imperfect virtues, still tend to see the personally disadvantageous nature of a certain action as competing in importance with its honesty or benevolence or justice. 2. They mimic, follow the virtuous person. * We might add that it also takes a certain set of external goods (e.g., right background, right education, right financial resources, right community, etc).  3 Commonly Ascribed “Advantages” of Virtue Ethics:  Focuses on the development of habits that promote human excellence.  Focuses on an account in which being virtuous means recognizing how rational behavior requires being sensitive to the social and personal dimensions of life.  Focuses on how “rational” actions are not based on abstract principles but on moderation.  Common Criticisms of Virtue Ethics (VE):  Vast differences on what constitutes a virtue (e.g., different people, societies, opinions, etc).  VE lacks clarity in resolving moral conflicts.  VE is self-centered because its primary concern is the agent’s own character.  “Well-being” is a master value & all other things are valuable only to the extent that they can contribute to it.  VE is imprecise: It fails to give us any help with the practicalities of how we should behave.  VE leaves us “hostage to luck” for only some will attain moral maturity; others will not. Moreover, life is very fragile. One small misstep and it will cost you everything; it will forever be beyond your reach.  New Material:  We will now turn to examine Theistic Deontological Ethics with Natural Law Theory:  Next Time we will explore Thomas Aquinas’ “four cardinal virtues” and Introduce Kant’s deontological model as a model that became secular.