Virtue Ethics and

Natural Law
Basic Framework of Virtue Ethics:
What type of a person should you be?

Premise 1: An action is right if it is what a virtuous agent

would do in similar circumstances.

Premise 2: A virtuous agent is one who acts virtuously, i.e.,

one who has and exercises the virtue.

Premise 3: A virtue is a character trait a human being needs to

flourish or live well.
Overview of Ethical Systems: Virtue Ethics

Rather than focusing on what we ought to do, Virtue

ethics offers a distinctive approach whereby we focus
on human character asking the question, “What should
I be?” Thus, ethical life involves envisioning ideals for
human life and embodying those ideals in one’s life.
Virtues are ways in which we embody those ideals.
Overview of Ethical Systems: Virtue Ethics (cont.)

Virtue is an excellence of some sort. Originally the word meant

“strength” and referred to as “manliness.” In Aristotle’s ethics (arete)
it is an “excellences of various types.”
Aristotle says there are 2 types of virtue:
a. intellectual virtues: excellences of the mind (e.g., ability to
understand, reason, & judge well);
b. moral virtues: learned by repetition (e.g., practicing honesty we
become honest. To be virtuous requires knowledge, practice, &
consistent effort at character building.
Overview of Ethical Systems: Virtue Ethics (cont.)

Aristotle :The function of man is reason (the good of

the thing is when it performs its function well) which is
peculiar to him. Thus, the function of man is reason and
the life that is distinctive of humans is the life in
accordance with reason. If the function of man is
reason, then the good man is the man who reasons well
This is the life of excellence (eudaimonia; human
flourishing & well-being).
What is Virtue Ethics?

Virtue Ethics emphasizes the development of character

as its central theme rather than trying to define
'goodness' or 'rightness'. It is a eudaimonistic theory as
it holds 'happiness' to be our highest goal. According to
Aristotle, we attain happiness by cultivating both
intellectual and moral virtue. We become virtuous by
habit: we deliberately and consistently choose the mean
between excess and deficiency until it becomes second-
nature.
What is Virtue Ethics? (cont.)

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,

then, is not an act, but a habit.”

~ Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Virtue = Excellence:

• Intellectual virtue can be taught.

• A good person succeeds at rational activity.

• Moral virtue is acquired through excellent habits.

• We become good by doing good things.

• We become virtuous by practicing virtuous acts.

Three Central Themes:
A. Virtue (arete): A habit of excellence, a beneficial tendency, a skilled disposition
that enables a person to realize the crucial potentialities that constitute proper
human flourishing.

1. A habit is a disposition to think, feel, desire, and act in a certain way

without having a tendency to will consciously to do so.
2. “Character” may be defined as the sum-total of one’s habits.

B. Eudaimonia (Human Flourishing; Successful Living)

C. Phronesis (practical wisdom): How?
1. Practice The Golden Mean: Be moderate in all things to an appropriate
degree; avoid both deficiency and excessiveness; cultivate proper virtues that
are deemed most worthy by your community;
2. Mimic, follow the virtuous person.
A Character Trait is a Virtue IFF it is conducive to
eudaimonia. The Golden Mean:
Virtue Excess Deficiency Sphere

Courage Rashness Cowardice Danger

Temperance Self-indulgence Insensibility Sensual pleasure
Liberality Wasteful Stinginess Money
Magnificence Vulgarity Penny pinching Great wealth
Pride Vanity Humility Honor & self-respect
Right Ambition Overly ambitious Lack of ambition Honor
Good temper No emotion Quick-temper Insult
Ready wit Buffoonishness Boorishness Humor
Truthfulness Boastfulness Modesty Self-description
Friendliness Flattery Quarrelsome Social association
Shame Bashfulness Pretense Wrongdoing
Righteous Spite Envy Fortune of others
Justice Greed ? Scarce goods
Virtue as a Mean:

• We must give in to desire in the right circumstances, in

the right way, for the right reason, etc.
• Practical wisdom allows us to find the mean.
• There’s no rule for doing this.
• You must learn to see what is right
Virtue as a Mean: (cont.)

Virtues are means between extremes

Virtues constrain desires
But we may constrain too little or too much

“MODERATION IN ALL THINGS IS

PARAMOUNT!”
Akratic and Enkratic:

The akratic: The enkratic:

The akratic is the The enkratic is the
morally weak person morally strong person
who desires to do other who shares the akratic
than what he knows agent’s desire to do
ought to be done and other than what he
acts on this desire knows ought to be done,
against his better but acts in accordance
judgment. with his better judgment.
3 Commonly Ascribed “Advantages” of Virtue
Ethics:

• Focuses on the development of habits that promote human

excellence.

• Focuses on an account in which being virtuous means

recognizing how rational behavior requires being sensitive
to the social and personal dimensions of life.
• Focuses on how “rational” actions are not based on abstract
principles but on moderation.
St. Thomas Aquinas:

In the 13th Century, Aristotle's works

were 'rediscovered' in the West and
translated into Latin. These translations
of 'The Philosopher' (as Aquinas called
him) became an integral part of some of
Aquinas' most important writings.
St. Thomas Aquinas: (cont.)
• Translates Aristotle into the Christian
Worldview
• Adds the 'spiritual virtues' of Faith, Love,
and Hope
• Distinguishes between 'Eternal Law,'
'Natural Law,' 'Human Law' and 'Divine
Law'
• Natural Law prescribes the fundamental
precepts of morality and is grasped
through reason and conscience
In the works of Aquinas :
A. Natural Law

• It is moral law presumed to be grounded in nature itself. A natural

law is a norm for ethical behavior that is deemed binding on all humans
because it coheres with the human essence or with the structure of the
universe (grounded in nature itself), perhaps because it was legislated
by God.

• Insofar as natural law can be known by reason alone, without

special revelation, they provide guidance for all humans, and when
followed they enhance the common good, but also render each person
morally responsible to a divine judge.
In the works of Aquinas : (cont.)
B. Eternal Law

To determine what are the proximate natural goods for man, Aquinas
suggests that reason naturally apprehends as goods those objects that
satisfy man's basic inclinations. On the lowest level are those physical
goods that all beings incline to, such as self-preservation. Second are
biological goods that men tend towards, as do all living things: the
procreation and care of offspring, for instance. In the third and highest
place he puts those values that satisfy man as a rational being: the
knowledge of truth about God and the advantage of living in the society
of other humans.
In the works of Aquinas : (cont.)

C. Human Law
 
Involves those civil laws that govern communities.
These civil laws may indeed vary from town to
town as long as they don't violate the precepts of
Natural Law.
In the works of Aquinas : (cont.)

D. Divine Law 

Pertains to God's special plans for humanity and is revealed through, for example,
sacred scripture.
Example these 'laws' could be:
a. The law of gravity as governing the motion of physical objects
b. Prohibition of artificial birth control as violating our natural tendency toward
procreation.
c. Laws regulating the traffic in a particular city and disobedience with regard to laws
that seek to destroy religious faith (through, for example, the banning of Mass).
d. Knowledge, through God's Grace, of our supernatural rewards (as revealed in the
New Testament).
THANK YOU!