Virtue Ethics

• What is Virtue Ethics, as defined from Aristotle?

  • Virtue ethics is a return to the ideas of Aristotle.
  • His definition of Virtue and Vice: a trait of character (not a physical trait), manifested in habitual action.
  • Virtue: GOOD for a person to have.
  • Vice: BAD for a person to have.
  • Arete: excellent character, which we should all strive for.
• What are Plato's Four Cardinal Virtues?

  • Courage
  • Temperance: patience, sympathy/empathy, and moderation.
  • Justice: balance and fairness.
  • Prudence (Wisdom): involves thinking through things-being reasonable and rational.
  • If a person has all four of these virtues, it's most likely all other characteristics will fall under.
• Describe more of what we should know about Virtue Ethics.

  • In Virtue Ethics, we should take an action because it is the right thing to do. It is not based on consequences, duty, or own intentions.
  • Any virtue becomes a vice when there is a deficiency (too little) or an excess (too much) of it. For example, too little courage produces cowardice, while too much courage produces foolishness.
• Define the Golden Mean.

  Aristotle's device for identifying a virtue. In moderation, a train remains virtuous, but outside of the Golden Mean, virtuous traits becomes vices (any virtue can become a vice, however some vices can never be virtuous).
• What else did Aristotle say about Virtue Ethics?

  The virtuous person will fare better in life and the virtues are needed to conduct our lives well.
• Why is Ethical Relativism NOT compatible at all with Virtue Ethics?

  Ethical Relativism says that all/some actions can be tolerable, while Virtue Ethics decides if something is straight up good or bad. Therefore, both concepts/ideas are NOT compatible.
• Who created the idea of the Ethics of Freedom?

  Simone de Beauvoir, a French Existentialist.
• Describe more about the Ethics of Freedom.

  • We are self-conscious beings who have the freedom to change and decide the kind of people we want to become.
  • We can't be free when we are only "being" (stuck). We should always be "becoming" (changing) better.
• Define Facticity.

  Existence which has no freedom to change. In other words, we are STUCK in thinking that something about us can't change.
• What else could be said about this idea of Facticity?

  • When we are only "being" we remain "stuck in our facticity." It is like a myth has been written about our lives that cannot change.
• What should we do in order not to be stuck in our facticity?

  We should constantly be "rewriting our myth" so that we can continue to change in positive ways and "become" more free.