VIRTUE ETHICS
choosing person)
Notes from the PPT
WHO IS ARISTOTLE?
• greek philosopher
• influential in western philosphy
• student of plato
• teacher of alexander the great
• intellectual is vast
• Founded lyceum in athens
• developed virtue ethics
Virtue Ethics
• Virtue ethics is the general term for
theories that put emphasis on the
role of character and virtue in
living one’s life rather than in
doing one’s duty or in acting to
bring about good consequences.
• For virtue ethicists, the moral code
would be: “Act as a Virtuous
Person Would Act in Your
Situation”
• Most virtue ethics theories take
their inspiration from Aristotle who
declared that a virtuous person is
someone who has ideal character
traits. These traits derive from
natural internal tendencies, but
need to be nurtured; however, once
established, they will become
stable.
• There is also St. Thomas Aquinas
who asserted that no human act is
morally good unless it is in line
with love of self and neighbor not
only:
I. In the motives or intentions
with which it is chosen, and
II. In the appropriateness of
the circumstances, but also
III. In its object (More
precisely the object, or
closest-in orientation of
Telos
• Aristotle was a teleologist due
to his belief that objects have
a final cause. The Greek term
telos refers to what we might
call a purpose, goal, end or
true final function of an
object.
• Aristotle asserts that an
object attains its own good by
achieving its function, goal or
end. All objects have this kind
of true function, which means
that all objects have a means
of becoming excellent. For
instance, a chair's telos can
be to give a seat; a good chair
is one that maintains the
human lower back's curvature
without giving way under
pressure.
• Aristotle felt that humans had
a telos, just as a chair had a
real purpose or end.
• Aristotle believed that
humankind's capacity for both
reason and reason-based
action is what set us apart
from other species. Therefore,
the function of a human being
is tied to our uniquely
differentiating characteristic.
Telos is the highest good and
the ultimate goal of human
life. It is not simply happiness
in the sense of pleasure or
emotional satisfaction but
rather a state of living in
accordance with one's true
nature and fulfilling one's
potential.
Telos in Ethics
• in ethical theory, every human activity
is thought to have a telos, or ultimate
goal, and practical discussion entails
 defining the concrete measures
required to reach that telos (goal).
The entire goal of an agent's existence
can also be regarded as being to
achieve their overall telos, which is
their ultimate goal or summum
bonum, or the "highest good," which
was thought to be eudaimonia, or
happiness, in antiquity.
Other instances of telos
• According to Aristotle's natural
science, the telos of a member of a
species, is when it is fully developed
and capable of self-reproduction. For
example, insects reach their telos
when they reach adulthood. An
organ's or capacity's telos is its
purpose or role within the organism
as a whole; for instance, the eye's
telos is seeing.
Virtue as Habit
• Character = development of
personality
• Habit = human acts being carried out
frequently
• Virtues = good act habitually put into
action
• Moral virtue = flow from our beings,
acquired through constant practice
• Intellectual virtue = virtue of wisdom
and virtue of understanding
Happiness as Virtue
• Happiness = eudaimonia (greek
translation)
• Happiness is a final end or goal that
encompasses the totality of one’s life.
• Is like the ultimate value of your life as
lived up to this moment, measuring
how well you have lived up to your full
potential as a human being
• Aristotle tells us that the most
important factor in the effort to
achieve happiness is to have a good
moral character — what he calls
“complete virtue.”
• One can't make a pronouncement
about whether one lived a truly happy
life, until it's over.
• Example: Suppose someone witnesses
a holdup in progress. A reckless
response might involve rushing
impulsively to confront the robber
without considering the potential risks
or the safety of oneself and others.
Conversely, a cowardly reaction might
involve freezing, fleeing the scene
without attempting to seek help, or
ignoring the situation entirely out of
fear.
➢ IN achieving "complete
virtue" one must consider the
GOLDEN MEAN
➢ (Golden mean = Balance
between extremes and
deficiency)
Notes from the book
What is virtue ethics and who is Aristotle?
Virtue ethics
• Is the general term for theories that
put emphasis on the role of character
and virtue in living one's life rather
than in doing one's duty or in acting
to bring about good consequences.
For virtue ethicists, their moral code
would be: "Act as a virtuous person
would act in your situation”
• Most virtue ethics theories take their
inspiration from Aristotle who
declared that a virtuous person is
someone who has ideal character
traits.
• There is also St. Thomas Aquinas who
asserted that no human act is morally
good (or "right", in the sense of "not
wrong") unless it is in line with love of
self and neighbor (and' thus with
respect for the basic aspects of the
 wellbeing of each and all human
beings) not only:
I. in the motives or intentions
with which it is chosen, and
II. in the appropriateness of the
circumstances, but also
III. in its object (more precisely
the object, or closest-in
intention of the choosing
person)
Aristotle
• Aristotle was born in a small colony of
Stagira in Greece. That was fifteen
years after the death of Socrates, the
teacher of Plato. His father was
Nicomachus, who happened to be
the court physician during the reign
of King A myntas. Because of this
affiliation, Aristotle became the tutor
of Alexander the Great, who was the
grandson of the king. When
Aristotle's father died, he left Stagira
and went to Athens to Join the
Academy, a famous school of Plato,
and became student of Plato for
twenty years. He Joined the school at
the age of seventeen. His known
works that are related to moral
philosophy are: Nicomachean Ethics
(NE), Eudemian Ethics (EE), and the
Magna Moralia. Most of the ideas
related to the framework he
conceived are taken from his first two
works.
Telos
• How often do you ask why you always
prepare yourself before going to
school? Perhaps your reason is
because of hygienic purpose (you
take a bath), or to be presentable
(you dress properly) before your
classmates and teacher. Or maybe
asking why you need to study all your
lessons before entering the class, and
your answer is simply to go with the
flow of all undertakings (reading
notes or handouts or books in
advance) to happen inside the
classroom. Under the ethical
framework of Aristotle, he means a
lot that we need be aware of every
action we make. For him, what we do
entails direction. If we decide to eat
breakfast before we leave the house,
it is because we want nourishment,
that is, having enough energy to
prepare our body to actively engaging
with the concerns for the day. So, we
eat to gain nourishment. Same thing
goes with other human actions that
have objectives. This objective will
lead us to our intended direction.
• This direction is what we foresee as
the outcome of our act. Conversely,
we act in order to get us to the
intended direction. In short, we may
not get to our destination if we do
not act. This is what telos means for
Aristotle. All our human actions
would lead to our desired end. The
end of human act is either good or
bad. But for Aristotle, in his
Nicomachean Ethics, the end is
something that is good. In real life,
we always pursue the good because it
makes us feel good. Conversely no
one pursues a bad end.
• Now there are two things about the
end as good. First, Aristotle insists
that any good end is achievable.
Nothing in real life that good end is
non-achievable by human action.
From the epistemological point-of-
view, only human beings are capable
of seeing the good in all things. The
rest of the creatures are incapable of
doing so since they do not have the
rationality, or the faculty of
reasoning. This is the reason why
achieving the good is always
considered a rational activity. Second,
 every action that aims in achieving
the good is the telos/end of human
actions. It only means that the result
of our ethical decision-making is
good. In fact, there are so many
seemingly good
• ends in life, and sometimes we
understand them subjectively and
relatively. Simply our understanding
of the good may not necessarily good
to others. Therefore, there is a need
to define what good means. Corollary
to settling the definition of good is
how do we know that a particular
result is good.
• Aristotle understands the meaning of
Virtue As Habit
good from the perspective of finality
and self-sufficiency. These are the
two features that serve as criteria of
determining the good. First, the
finality of the object of human action
has two views - the dominant or
monistic view and the inclusivists'
view. The first view claims that the
aim of every act is good. But there
are some human goals that entail
more actions. If one, who comes from
Valencia City, Bukidnon, wants to go
to Cagayan de Oro City, one has to
incur several actions like one should
ride a bus, pay the ticket, watch
movies on the monitor or watch
beautiful sceneries on its way, take a
nap, or talking to someone sitting
besides you. All the series of actions
before arriving at Cagayan de Oro,
which is the finality of the act, yield
good results. Yet these are
subordinate goods since the arrival at
Cagayan de Oro is considered as the
dominant good. The second view
claims that good, which is the result
of the series of human acts on your
way to Cagayan de Oro, is the totality
of all goods achieved, both the
dominant and subordinate goods in
the first view. It only means that it is
inconsiderate to think of the
dominant good alone because it
cannot be achieved without the
personal acts. The second feature of
good is the self-sufficiency of the
object of human action. This means
that the object of the act must be
something that will make life
worthwhile. One can say that it is not
enough to just fulfill what one intends
to do without considering whether it
is worth of doing and acting on it or
not. Since that object of the act is
self-sufficient, it only means that
there is nothing more to desire. In
other words, the object lacks nothing.
• In the second book of NE, Aristotle
explicates about the acquisition of
character excellence by habituation
(ethismos). Character excellence and
habit are the two important terms we
need to consider here. The word
character means the development of
personality that resulted in the
application of virtues, while the word
habit means that certain human acts
are being carried out frequently. It
only means that when a person
carries a certain act only ones, it is
just a plain act and not a habitual act.
Now the terms habit and virtues are
closely connected to each other, for
virtues are good acts (of which its
equivalent opposite is vice, which
means bad habit) habitually put into
action. So, what are these virtues that
has to be acted oftentimes that which
in turn develops the character of the
person? There are two kinds of virtues
➢ Moral virtue
➢ Intellectual virtue.
• Moreover, the moral virtues of
Aristotle, when put into action, should
observe moderation. This moderation
entails that one has to avoid what is
 excess or defect in action. In local
parlance, the excess means too much
and the defect means too little.
Aristotle suggests that the moral
virtues are in the middle between too
much and too little. It is also called the
Doctrine of the Mean. Here are the
excess and defects of the following
virtues (Urmson, 33-34).

Excess or Too Virtues Defect or Too

Much Little
Irascibility Even Temper Impassivity
Foolhardiness Bravery Cowardice
Shamelessness Modesty Touchiness
Intemperance Temperance Insensibility
Envy Fair- (nameless)
mindedness
Gain Justice Disadvantage
Prodigality Liberality Meanness
Boastfulness Truthfulness Mock
modesty
Flattery Friendliness Churlishness
Servility Dignity Disdain
Vanity Pride Mean spirit
Ostentation Magnificence Unworldliness