The Virtue Ethics

of Aristotle
Module 4, Lesson 1
Overview
• Every day, a person is confronted with situations that
necessitate moral judgment. In dealing with various
problems and day-to-day activities, it necessitates
constant interaction of thought and action, which
necessitates one's decision. This necessitates making
our own decisions, decisions that either build or
challenge our very own moral character.
• In this regard, we will try to focus on the agent's
character and discover what actions are right or
wrong based on what is perceived, chosen, and
performed by a suitably virtuous person, according to
one of the contemporary philosophies in ethics: 'the
virtue ethics.'
What is the nature of the term ‘virtue’?
• Virtue came from a Greek word ‘arete’ (ἀρετή),
which means "excellence" of any kind. By
excellence, the Greeks thought of how a thing
fulfills its function (ergon) in accordance with its
nature.
• To be virtuous, in other words is to exhibit one’s
capacity to fulfill one’s essence or purpose in such
a way that one’s potentiality as a particular being
may be said to be actualized in the most excellent
way. (Pasco and Suarez, 2018)
• Virtue ethics do not aim primarily to identify universal
principles that can be applied in any moral situation,
it deals with wider questions—“How should I live?”
and “What is the good life?” and “What are proper
family and social values?” (Athanassoulis, n.d.)
• Socrates and Plato both claimed that goodness is
innate in all people. They asserted that absolute
goodness and the principle of rectitude are natural to
humans. Man is, by nature, good. Aristotle, on the
other hand, reconciled the disparities between his
contemporaries' proposed theories and established
the concept of "fair equality."
• A good conduct according to Aristotle arises from
habits that in turn can only be acquired by
repeated action and correction.
• Corpuz [Link] (2020) mentioned that Virtue Ethics
does not only deal with rightness and wrongness
of individual actions. It provides guidance as to
the sort of characteristics and behaviors a good
person will seek to achieve. Virtue Ethics is
concerned with the whole of a person’s life, rather
than particular episodes ar actions.
What is Virtue Ethics?
• Virtue Ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and
other ancient Greeks: Socrates and Plato during the
Ancient period. It is the quest to understand and live a life
of moral character (Ethics Unwrapped, 2020). It is a
contemporary theory in ethics that teaches that an action
is right, if it is an action that a virtuous person would
perform in the same situations.
• Whereas act-oriented ethics is primarily concerned with
what we should do, virtue ethics is primarily concerned
with what we should be, that is, the character or type of
person we should strive to become. As a result, ethics
emphasizes developing good character habits that make
'virtue' and avoiding bad character traits or vices in order
to be a suitably virtuous person.
What are the basic types of virtue?
• Aristotle says that there are two (2) kinds of
virtues – moral and intellectual. The first
corresponds to the fully rational part of the soul,
the intellect; the second pertains to the part of the
rational soul which
Intellectual can obey reason.
Virtue Moral virtue
refers to the excellence
of the mind.
refers to a person’s
This include ability to
dispositions to act well.
understand, reason and
judge well.
Aristotle’s Ethics
1. SELF-REALIZATIONISM
• When a person acts in accordance with his nature
or ultimate goal (telos), he realizes his full
potential, acts morally, and is happy.
• In terms of ethics, Aristotle believes in the
superiority of philosophical contemplation and
virtuous actions resulting from virtuous people. By
virtuous actions, he means those which the person
with wisdom would choose because what is good
is obvious to such a person. (De Guzman, 2018)
Aristotle’s Ethics
2. EUDAIMONISTIC
• It focuses on happiness and well-being, or
what is good for man, and how to achieve it.
• For Aristotle, ethics is the study of the
human good. This is to say that the goal of
studying ethics is to improve ourselves,
though Aristotle assumes that we already
want to improve ourselves. This human
good is eudaimonia or happiness. (De
Guzman, 2018)
Aristotle’s Ethics
3. VIRTUE – BASED
• The aretaic, or virtue-based, perspective focuses
on self, what we should be, or the type of person
we should strive to become. (2017, Jens Micah De
Guzman)
• The first is the fully rational part of the soul, the
intellect, while the second is the part of the
rational soul that can obey reason. As a result,
moral virtue is an expression of character, formed
by habits reflecting repeated choices, and is also
known as character virtue.
Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

DIFFICULTY OF ESTABLISHING THE

NATURE OF THE VIRTUES.
• According to critics, one of the theory's major flaws is the
difficulty in determining the nature of the virtues,
especially since different people, cultures, and societies
often have vastly different ideas about what constitutes a
virtue.
Criticisms of Virtue Ethics
NOT ACTION-BASED, BUT CHARACTER-
BASED.
• Another objection is that the theory is not "action-guiding",
and does not focus on what sorts of actions are morally
permitted and which ones are not, but rather on what sort
of qualities someone ought to foster in order to become a
good person.
• They argue that Virtue Ethics can also be action-guiding
through observance of virtuous agents as exemplars, and
through the lifelong process of moral learning, for which
quick-fix rules are no substitute.
Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

OTHER CRITICISMS.
• Other critics are concerned that Virtue Ethics leaves us
hostage to luck, and that it is unfair that some people will
be lucky and receive the help and encouragement they
need to attain moral maturity, while others will not,
through no fault of their own.
Summary
• According to Aristotle, the relevant virtuous
characteristic revealed by the Golden Mean will
make the goal of an action clear; for example, our
goal in a situation may be to respond
courageously or generously.
• We improve our ability to determine what exactly
courage or generosity entails in a given situation
and how we might achieve it by honing our
practical wisdom (translation of "phronesis").
(Mark Dimmok and Andre Fisher, 2018)
• Learning from experiences is an important part of
developing practical wisdom. A human being is constantly
confronted with choices, which are not always easy. In
your pursuit of practical wisdom, you may initially make
errors in how reason is applied to a specific moral choice
or action.
• However, by making these mistakes, you will be able to
gain practical wisdom that will help guide another's ability
to know morality to make the right choices and actions.
This is evident in people who seek advice from elders
because they believe elders have a wealth of life
experience and practical wisdom. (Bulaong, [Link] 2018)
• In general, an action is voluntary when it is freely
chosen, and involuntary when it is not — these
terms are defined more precisely below, in
accordance with Aristotle's ideas. These
distinctions are important in ethics because a
person may be held morally responsible for
voluntary actions but not for involuntary actions.
• An action is voluntary, according to Aristotle,
unless it is influenced by force or ignorance.
(Mark Dimmok and Andre Fisher, 2018)