Aristotle: Virtue Ethics

1
Aristotle Virtue Ethics

• Basic concepts of the Aristotelian conception of
  Virtue Ethics

2
Aristotelian Science

• Four Causes (Explanations)
• Formal Cause What shape or form does the object
  strive to have?
• Material Cause What is the object made of?
• Efficient Cause What is the source of change in
  the object?
• Final Cause What goal or purpose does the object
  strive to obtain?

3
Aristotelian Science

• In examining the sciences regarding action or
  praxis, Aristotle distinguishes between those
  actions having to do with individuals and their
  good, and those actions having to do with
  collectives and the good of groups. The former
  are concerns of Ethics, while the latter are the
  concerns of Politics.

4

• There will be an interrelationship between the
  concerns of ethics and politics because they both
  are concerned with human happiness.
• Actions Those done for their own sake, and those
  done for the sake of some other goal or purpose.
  An action is said to be complete if it is done
  for its own sake, and an action is said to be
  instrumental if it is done for the sake of some
  other action.
• End Examining the Endoxa concerning the end of
  human activities. Most people agree that the
  human end is Happiness. But, what is the nature
  of happiness?

5

• Happiness Three competing views
• Life of pleasure and contentment
• Life of wealth and honor
• Virtuous life.
• Sole constraint placed on these conceptions of
  happiness is that if happiness is the end of all
  human action, then it must be complete, i.e.,
  self-sufficient, such that nothing more can be
  added to happiness to make it more complete. If
  something more can be added to this notion, then
  we have not discovered the end of all human
  action.

6

• The upshot is that only the virtuous life will be
  complete. All the other notions lack something
  that is only found in the virtuous life.
• Division of the virtues Intellectual and the
  moral virtues
• The intellectual virtues are those that we
  acquire naturally, by exercising our native
  curiosity and are excellences of our rationality.
• The moral virtues are those that we acquire
  through habits, they require the use of desire
  and reason in order to develop our sociability.

7

• Human soul not radically distinct from other
  souls. The idea of a soul in Aristotles
  thinking is that which accounts for the source of
  motion in the living being. By motion we mean
  both locomotion as well as any change in the
  body.
• Other souls vegetative and animalistic
• Vegetative soul has the power of growth,
  nutrition, and reproduction. These powers will
  be shared with those other, higher forms of
  souls.
• Animalistic soul has the powers of the vegetative
  soul in addition to the powers of locomotion and
  perception.
• Human or Rational soul has the powers of the
  animalistic soul in addition to the power of
  communication. Communication is the root from
  which all of the other intellectual virtues will
  arise.

8

• Notice that the highest part of the human soul
  will entail the intellectual virtues. But where
  do the moral virtues lie?
• The animalistic soul is then divided between that
  portion that listens or obeys the commands of
  reason and that portion of the soul that does
  not listen or obey the commands of reason. In
  the former will the moral virtues develop. It
  should also be noted here that in order for a
  human being to be happy, that person must develop
  both the intellectual as well as the moral
  virtues. Aristotle will actually say that it is
  impossible to have one set of virtues without the
  other. This is the notion of the unity of virtue
  that Aristotle uses. This notion is related to
  the Platonic one, but unlike Platos notion, this
  notion rests on more than just cognitive states.

9

• If the moral virtues arise within us by practice
  how do we know what these virtues are?
• We learn these virtues through observation and by
  imitating those who have developed these virtues.
  But how do we know that we have it right?
• The doctrine of the mean is intended to address
  this problem.
• Virtue lies as a mean between extremes of excess
  and deficiency. These extremes are vices. But
  what constitutes a virtuegt
• Aristotle thinks that the virtues are the product
  of a passion in action. That is, there will be a
  characteristic emotion or desire driving each of
  the virtues.

10
(No Transcript)