VIRTUE ETHICS The Cultivation of Character

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VIRTUE ETHICSThe Cultivation of Character
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Aviano Case Lessons

• Were Schweitzer and Ashby bad guys?
• Did their actions after accident illustrate any
  deficiencies? What sort?
• How could we summarize what is wrong?
• Compare to USS Greenville incident, CDR Scott
  Waddell
• Moral courage a rare virtue

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From Duty to Virtue

• Kants examples what ARE our duties?
• Strict, perfect, negative duties (e.g., do not
  kill, harm, lie, cheat, steal)
• These are duties of Justice
• Vague, imperfect, positive duties (develop
  yourself, help others)
• Duties of Virtue but what IS this?
• Utilitarianism requires virtuous character (in
  what sense?)

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Class Exercise Virtues of Professions

• Excellence (arete, virtue) is defined with
  respect to a specific practice
• Some traits show up on several lists
• Some traits are recognizably moral traits
• Q Are there excellences pertaining to the
  practice of being a human being?
• Aristotles problem what are the traits of
  character that make for a full and flourishing
  human life (happiness, eudaimonia)

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Character and Excellence (arete)

• Heretofore we have discussed rational decision
  theory morality seems to be procedural
• Categorical Imperative procedure
• Utilitarian Greatest Happiness calculus
• But is Morality, properly understood, something
  more than a set of decision procedures???

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What Else might be Involved?

• Perhaps morality is not just about making the
  right choice
• doing the right thing (duty)
• getting the right result (greatest good for the
  greatest number)
• Perhaps morality is also about building
  character
• what kind of person do I wish to become?
• what kind of a human being ARE you?

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Central Questions about Character or Virtue
Ethics

• what are the right habits (i.e., the ones that
  lead to human flourishing, happiness)?
• how are they cultivated?
• can they be taught?
• or must they be acquired over time?

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Aristotles Virtue Ethics

• virtues or excellences of character include
• moral virtues (like honesty, fairness or justice)
• prudential virtues (like temperance, modesty)
• intellectual virtues (like wisdom)
• some that are hard to classify (like courage)

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Some General Observations about Aristotelian
Virtues

• virtues, including moral virtues, are not so much
  taught as learned by example, observation,
  practice
• Cultivating these traits is compared to
  practicing archery or marksmanship
• Hitting the bulls eye takes time, practice,
  patience
• Demonstrating the appropriate behavior at the
  right time, right place, to the right degree

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How do we Define Virtue?

• a virtue is often (but not always) a mean
  between two extremes, an excess and a defect
• example of courage sometimes the deficiency is
  more to be avoided than the excess
• there do not seem to be general rules or
  principles, and certainly no algorithms or
  formulae for virtue

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Summary of Virtue Theory

• Human happiness, flourishing, stem from
  cultivation of proper virtues
• This is an ongoing, life-long task
• Social practice experienced veterans provide
  mentorship and constraints (laws)
• Friendship, and the role (and regulation) of
  emotions are included in the mix