Virtue Ethics: Character-Based Ethics PowerPoint

VIRTUE ETHICS (CHARACTER-BASED ETHICS) VIRTUE ETHICS (CHARACTER BASED ETHICS) Instead of focusing on moral theories and set of moral principles, let’s rather concentrate on character development. Proponents of Virtue Ethics believe that there is a gap between knowing what is right and do...

VIRTUE ETHICS (CHARACTER-BASED ETHICS) VIRTUE ETHICS (CHARACTER BASED ETHICS) Instead of focusing on moral theories and set of moral principles, let’s rather concentrate on character development. Proponents of Virtue Ethics believe that there is a gap between knowing what is right and doing what is right. They believe that this gap is because of the lack of a capacity to do what one knows to be right. Hence, they hold that the focus should be VIRTUE ETHICS (CHARACTER BASED ETHICS) The virtue ethicist argues that what matters morally is not what we do at a time, but what we become over time. To the virtue ethicist, it is the acquisition of a good character that is – or should be– our moral aim. A right action is an action that a virtuous person, acting in character, would do in the same circumstances (consistency in character). VIRTUE ETHICS  Importantly, the virtue ethicist rejects the idea that we should: (a) follow rules (b) try to produce certain consequences  A virtuous person is a person who possesses and lives out the virtues.  The virtues are those character traits human beings need to flourish and be truly happy.  ARE WE BORN VIRTUOUS?  No one is born virtuous. Virtue is something that must be acquired.  Being virtuous is a matter of acquiring the right habits.  Just as an athlete must acquire the right habits so his natural strength will flourish, so must human beings habitually act in accordance with virtue to avoid becoming morally vulnerable. Virtue ethics maintain that it is important not only to do the right things but also to have the requisite dispositions, motivations, and emotions in being good and doing right. Thus, virtue ethics is not only about actions but also about emotions, character, and moral habit. THE VIRTUES: TWO TYPES Aristotle identified two types of virtues 1. Intellectual Virtues Taught through instruction Wisdom, Understanding, Prudence  THE VIRTUES: TWO TYPES 2. Moral Virtues These are as a result of habit. They are not natural or inborn but acquired through practice.  Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance NB: Other readings identify two traditional division of virtues as moral virtues and non-moral virtues. Take note of those as well.  of habit. It is not implanted in us by nature. Things which are not THE given to us by nature, NATURE we acquire them by learning to do them. OF For example, we did not MORAL acquire the sense of VIRTUE hearing or seeing by often hearing or seeing. On the contrary, we have them before using THE NATURE OF MORAL VIRTUE  Virtues, however, like the arts, we first must learn before we can do them. E.g. You become a builder by building; or a doctor by learning and practising medicine.  Virtues are neither passions nor faculties; they are habitual dispositions.  It is a character trait developed by habit which eventually becomes our second nature.  You become a certain kind of person after learning and practising or abstaining from a certain kind of act. MORAL VIRTUE IS THE MEAN BETWEEN LACK AND EXCESS  Moral virtue is thus, a habitual disposition marked by choice, lying in a mean relative to us a mean which is determined by reason, by which a prudent person or practical wisdom would determine it.  It is the nature of things to be destroyed by lack (deficiency) or excess. For instance, lack of exercise, food or drink, or the excess of any, destroys the body/our health. MORAL VIRTUE IS THE MEAN BETWEEN LACK AND EXCESS  But if we consume or apply any of these in the quantity proportionate to the body, it restores, increases and preserves it.  Similarly, lack of courage leads to cowardice and the excess of it, foolhardiness.  That is, a man who fears nothing (excess of courage - foolhardiness) and the man who fears everything (lack of courage- coward) can be destroyed by the lack of, or excess of it, but preserved by the mean (courage). MORAL VIRTUE CANNOT BE ACCIDENTAL To become just, people must do things justly. This means that a person who performs virtuous acts cannot be said to do so by accident or by chance, but she must be in a certain condition when she does them: 1. Have knowledge of the act, i.e., you should know what you are doing. 2. Should deliberately choose to do it and for its own sake, not by accident. MORAL VIRTUE CANNOT BE ACCIDENTAL 3. Should act in a steady and unwavering state. The action must proceed from a firm and unchanging character. For it is by doing just (virtuous) acts that a just (virtuous) man is produced. Aristotle believes that by behaving in a just manner and making a habit of it will ultimately result in moral virtue/excellence of character. THE NATURE OF MORAL VIRTUE  What nature gives us is the capacity to acquire virtue. This capacity is perfected through habit.  Merely acquiring knowledge of what is virtuous or vicious does not make one virtuous or vicious.  Rather, you become virtuous by practising what one knows and accepts as good.  It is during our dealings with others that we become virtuous or vicious.  Virtue is thus acquired by first practising virtuous acts.  Vices are opposite of virtues. Vice: a character trait VICES that prevents a human being from flourishing or being truly happy. QUESTION TIME The End