ARISTOTLE’S VIRTUE ETHICS

Virtue or character ethics

The following excerpts clarifies what virtue ethics is:
 An ethical act is the action that a virtuous person would do in the same circumstances
o Virtue ethics is person-based rather than action-based
 it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action
rather than at ethical duties or the consequences of particular actions
 Virtue ethics does not only deal with the rightness or wrongness of individual actions
o It provides guidance as to the sort of characteristics and behaviors a good person will
seek to achieve
o Virtue ethics is concerned with the whole of a person’s life, rather than particular
episodes or actions
o A good person is someone who lives virtuously – who possesses and lives the virtues
 In the Virtue framework, we try to identify the character traits (either positive or negative) that
might motivate us in a given situation.
o We are concerned with what kind of person we should be and what our actions indicate
about our character
 Virtue ethics is “the ethics of behavior” which “focuses on the character of the persons involved
in the decision or action. If the person in question has good character, and genuine motivation
and intentions, he or she is behaving ethically.”
o The rightness or wrongness of one’s action, or the goodness or badness of one’s
personality depends on his character, motivations and intentions
 Virtue ethics, “is an ethics whose goal is to determine what is essential to being a well-
functioning or flourishing human person
o Virtue ethics stresses an ideal for humans or persons
o As an ethics of ideals or excellences, it is an optimistic and positive type of ethics

Basic Types of Virtue (Excellence)

1. Intellectual virtues refer to excellence of the mind
o Include ability to understand, reason and judge well
2. Moral virtues refer to a person’s dispositions to act well
o Dispose a person to act well

Virtue is an attained, actualized or self-realized potential or possibility. It can serve as a moral

framework.
 Aristotle posited an ethical system that may be termed “self-realizationism”
 In Aristotle’s view, when a person acts in accordance with his nature and realizes his full
potential, he will do good and be content
o At birth, a baby is not a person, but a potential person
o To become a "real person”, the child’s inherent potential must be realized
o Unhappiness and frustration are caused by the unrealized potential of a person, leading
to failed goals and a poor life
o Self-realization, the awareness of one’s nature and the development of one’s talents, is
the surest path to happiness
 In short, virtue means excellence and virtue ethics is excellence ethics
Virtue as a Man
For Aristotle, virtue is the Golden Mean between two extremes
 The virtue of courage is a mean between two extremes of deficiency and extreme, namely,
cowardice and foolhardiness, respectively. Too little courage is cowardice and too much
courage is foolhardiness (MacKinnon, et al 2015).

Virtue Ethics in Other Traditions

 Confucius emphasized two virtues, jen (or ren) and li. Jen means humaneness, human-
heartedness and compassion. Li means propriety, manners or culture
 Hinduism emphasizes five basic moral virtues: non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, chastity,
freedom from greed. It also emphasizes mental virtues: self-control, self-settledness,
forbearance, faith and complete concentration, hunger for spiritual liberation (George, V,
2008)
 Buddhism also has its intellectual and moral virtues. From the eight-fold path are the intellectual
virtues of right understanding and right mindfulness and the moral virtues of right speech, right
action and right livelihood.
 Jesus Christ preached the virtues of love, mercy and compassion, hunger for justice, patience,
kindness, gentleness, self-control.
 St. Thomas Aquinas taught the theological virtues – faith, hope and love
 Christian tradition teaches four cardinal moral virtues, namely: prudence, justice, temperance
and fortitude
 The virtuous person did not inherent his/her virtues.
o Neither were these virtues simple passed on to him automatically.
o His being a person of virtue is a product of deliberate, consistent, continuous choice and
practice of living the virtue or virtues