Virtue Ethics

Objections to Virtue ethics

1) Inadequate moral guidance. - fails to provide help in solving concrete moral puzzles 2) Moral Conflict - Virtue ethics provides little instruction with deciding what a virtuous person would do if the virtue rules conflict with another 3) Moral Luck - morality of of an individual depends on moral luck because being good is a matter of having right character traits 4) The Priority Problem - intuitively, or standardly, we would get clear about our duty, and then define a virtue as a character trait that reliably moves us to do our duty for the right reasons. Virtue has a priority over duty—we must know what virtue is and how the virtuous would behave before knowing what we must do.

The role of emotions

Emotions can help us see what is morally relevant by tipping us off to what matters in a given situation emotions can help us tell what is right and what is wrong emotions can help motivate us to do the right thing IMPORTANT: for utilitarians and kantians emotions play no role in moral wisdom. moral wisdom was merely a matter of knowing the correct principle and correctly applying it

Virtue : Function and Human Function

Function: A thing's function is the kind of action or activity that makes something the sort of thing it is Human function: Human beings have a function as well What makes human being distinct, or makes them the sort of thing that they are, is our capacity for rational behavior, gaining knowledge and acting on reasons. To live a good life is to live a life of practical knowledge, one that expresses our capacity for learning and reason.

Moral education

Moral understanding can only come through training, experience and practice. Virtue is not inborn but takes time to acquire

Theoretical vs practical knowledge

Theoratical knowledge - how something is the case practical knowledge - how to do something

The standard of right action

We understand right action by reference to what a virtuous person, acting in character, would do. An act is morally right if and only if it is one that a virtuous person, acting in character, would do in that situation.

What is a virtue

disposition, tendency, character trait. But not merely just a tendency, as virtue require distinctive perceptions, thoughts and motives character trait that contributes to functioning well as human beings,

Aristotle on the virtues

he thought that whether we are virtuous or not is partly a matter of moral luck, our upbringings plays a crucial role in whether we gain moral wisdom and become virtuous but we obviously cannot control the environment we are raised in Aristotle describes virtue as the "mean" or "intermediate" between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency. A virtue, for Aristotle, is a character trait that contributes to a person functioning well as a human being.

The merely continent

people who manage to do the right thing, but with little or no pleasure, and only by suppressing contrary desires.

Moral standard

the single ultimate moral standard is to do what a virtuous person would do

moral wisdom as a form of practical knowledge

we need experience, emotional maturity, reflection, training and practice to acquire moral wisdom