Erdee Cajurao, MA BioEd

Key points to take note of in the talk

1. What is eudaimonia? Virtue?

2. Terms like: arete, phronesis
3. What does “that we become better persons through
practice” mean?
4. What does it mean to be happy and to live ‘the good life?’
Why be ethical?
» In order to choose the “right thing
to do”
» In order to become a good person
ETHICS

» Normative
» “What makes an action right or wrong?”
» Virtue
» “What kind of life should a human being live.
Why do the right thing?
Knowing the right thing to do
and being able to do it is
essential in achieving my
goal (happiness:
“eudaimonia”)
- Socrates
Why do the right thing?

Allowing the human nature to

reach its potential as God gave
it to me
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Why do the right thing?

It is my duty
- Immanuel Kant
Why do the right thing?

It produces the greatest good

of the greatest number.
- Utilitarianism
Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics

“Every art and every inquiry, and

similarly every action and choice, is
thought to aim at some good; and
for this reason the good has rightly
been declared to be that at which
all things aim.”
What is the highest of all goods?

Among everyone – educated and

lowly, healthy and sick – there is
verbal agreement: it is happiness,
eudaimonia. And they all equate
this with doing well or faring well.
What are the criteria for the highest good?

» Final
» Self-sufficient
» Attainable
What is happiness?

The highest good is achieved

if a human being performs his
function (“ergon”) in the most
excellent way (“arête” or
virtue)
What is the function of a human being?

What is unique in a human being?

REASON
Thus, one will be happy if he or she
is able to use his reason
excellently,
in a complete life.
“…in a complete life”

Hindi ka magiging maligaya

dahil may nagawa kang
mabuti sa minsang
pagkakataon lamang…
Soul

1. Rational
2. Irrational
A. Appetitive faculty
B. Vegetative faculty
Rational Soul

1. Intellect
» Theoretical – Sophia – “You know what you ought to
know”
» Practical – Pronesis – “You know what you ought to
do”
2. Character: “being able to do what you ought to do”
Rational Soul

The excellence of intellect is

INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES.

The excellence of character is

MORAL VIRTUE
Moral Virtue

It is a state of character concerned with a choice,

lying in a mean (“mesotes”), i.e., the mean relative to
us, this being determined by a rational principle,
and by that principle by which the man of practical
wisdom (“phronesis”) would determine it.
Moral Virtue

» It is a mean between two vices, that which

depends on excess, that which depends on
defects.
» Thus, virtue lies in the middle.
Virtue & Vice

Class of Action Excess Mean Deficiency

Fear &
rashness courage cowardice
Confidence
Giving &
prodigality liberality meanness
Getting
“Pagtitiwala” Uto-uto kabaitan mapaghinala
Moral: mesotes

» Pagdating sa moralidad walang kilos na sosobra sa

mesotes (hal. “sobrang bait,” “over sa tapang,” “medyo
palakaibigan siya”

» Kasamaan ay walang mesotes

» DJ Alvaro: “Ang tipo kong lalaki ay maginoo pero medyo

bastos”
Good life therefore means…

Morally good
+
Intellectually wise