Virtue Ethics

1
Virtue Ethics

• Virtue Ethics argues that
• Deontology and Consequentialism are too abstract.
• They simply construct rules for moral behaviour
• What about the person ?
• Virtue Ethics seeks to promote a common sense
  notion of moral character

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Origins

• Greek poets
• such as Homer and Sophocles illustrate the
  morality of their heroes and antiheroes in terms
  of their respective virtues and vices.
• Plato
• integral part of the quest for truth is
  understanding the ideal nature of virtues such as
  justice, piety, and courage.
• Aristotle
• moral virtues are desire-regulating character
  traits which are at a mean between more extreme
  character traits (or vices).
• Most moral virtues fall at the mean between two
  accompanying vices.

3
Moral Character

• The development of good character traits, or
  virtues.
• Virtues are dispositions to act and feel in
  specific ways
• Typical virtues might include-
• Courage
• Integrity
• Altruism
• Compassion

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Some Assumptions of Virtue Ethics

• Human beings have a specific nature
• Human nature is such that we all have specific
  aims and goals
• We choose actions as means towards the end of
  becoming or remaining virtuous
• The Doctrine of the Golden Mean
• moderate action, lying between two extremes or
  vices.
• This requires
• identification of the virtuous mean
• reflection and contemplation on how to act
  according to the virtuous mean

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Essentialism

• There is either a single rule or a core set of
  rules, which establish when a character trait is
  good or bad.
• Criticisms
• For any virtue chosen it is possible to state a
  corresponding duty, such as the duty to be
  truthful.
• The obligatory nature of virtues distinguishes
  them from mere character traits
• And
• Obligations to develop a virtue such as
  truthfulness presupposes a prior duty to be
  consistently truthful.

6
Eliminatism

• All moral rules are eliminated from consideration
• Particular actions are understood as mere
  expressions of character traits.
• consequentialist and non-consequentialist
  theories judge morality solely on the agent's
  intended action, without regard for the agent's.
  character.
• Critics argue that
• People are condemned for their bad actions.
• Character traits inform us about the types of
  actions an agent may perform, but do not mean
  that the agent will perform that action.
• It is, then, wrong to pass moral judgment simply
  on the basis of her character traits.
• Therefore, the agent's action is the object of
  our judgment.

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Criticisms of Virtue Theory

• Virtue ethics fails to adequately address
  dilemmas which arise in applied ethics, such as
  abortion.
• Virtue theory focuses on the general notion of a
  good person, and has little to say about
  particular acts.
• Some acts such as murder, are so intolerable,
  that we must devise a special list of offences
  which are prohibited. Virtue theory does not
  provide such a list.
• Character traits change, and unless we stay in
  practice, we risk losing our proficiency in these
  areas. This suggests a need for a more
  character-free way of assessing conduct.
• Virtue theory emphasizes long-term
  characteristics, this runs the risk of
  overlooking particular acts, on the grounds that
  they are temporary aberrations.

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More problems

• How do we determine who is virtuous?
• By de-emphasising the substance of an agent's
  action (such as the consequences of the action),
  virtue theory over emphasises on the style of an
  agent's conduct.
• Virtue theory is naïve and impractical in complex
  society.

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Further Reading

• Bauman Z (1993) Postmodern Ethics Oxford
  Blackwell
• MacIntyre, A, (1981) After Virtue a study in
  moral theory London Duckworth
• Pence, G Virtue Theory in Singer, P (ed.) (1991)
  A Companion to Ethics Oxford, Blackwell
• Seedhouse, D (1988) Ethics the Heart of Health
  Care Chichester, John Wiley
• Slote, M Virtue Ethics in Baron, M.W. Pettit, P
  and Slote (1997) Three Methods of Ethics Oxford
  Blackwell