ARISTOTLE AND VIRTUE YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE RIGHT The goal of humanity

CHARACTER IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO

ETHICS CHOOSE THE RIGHT ACTIONS. Aristotle thought that to be truly happy, you
“Happiness depends upon ourselves.” must become a virtuous person.
Virtue theory is concerned with the process
Aristotle of how to become a moral person. Once you This is the most fulfilling position to be in.
have become a moral person – you will do the
What is virtue ethics? right thing.
The virtuous person will act morally because
they want to, since they know it makes them
Most ethical theories suggest a set of happy.
principles or rules than all human beings are The beginnings
bound by: Virtue ethics actually came before Virtue is not an easy state to achieve, and it
Consequentialism and Kantian ethics – it was takes hard work and practice, as well as the
Consequentialism – the Greatest Good for right upbringing.
the Greatest Number invented in Ancient Greece by a philosopher
named ARISTOTLE. Virtue ethics is a life study: the virtuous life is
Kantianism – the Universal Law an ongoing project that you must work on at
Aristotle’s basic idea was that we can decide
Virtue ethics is different: It concentrates on what it is for something to be in a good state all times.
the idea of the human character and asks how by looking at its PURPOSE.e.g. a good knife We are like Archers aiming at a target of
you can be a better person. is one that cuts well. goodness.
Three approaches to ethics: The purpose of human life, said Aristotle, What is a virtue?
is to attain HAPPINESS.
 PERSON – Virtue ethics is the state a A Virtue is a character trait or quality that is
person is in when performing an This is what all of us aim at in our actions good and contributes to happiness.
action that matters
 ACTION – Kantian ethics some acts Actions and aims The opposite of virtue is vice.
are right or wrong in themselves
Aristotle believed that every human action is Vices are personality traits that undermine
(duty)
directed towards an aim. your or others’ happiness.
 END – Consequentialism the end
result determines the rightness or I get up in the morning because I want to go to These are negative and should be avoided.
wrongness work.
Virtues require different actions in different
Utilitarians and Kantians think that “what is it I go to work because I want to earn a living situations, so there are no absolutely good or
right to do?” is the most important question and have a career. bad actions.
in ethics. They concentrate simply on moral
decision-making. I want earnings and career so that I can have
a good life.
Virtue theory puts this the other way round –
right character comes BEFORE right
behaviour.“How should we be?” is the most
important question, because it is only by
becoming better people that we will do the
right thing.
What is Moral Character? The 4 beginnings in Confucian traditions: What does it mean to be
Moral – Concerned with the principles of right 1. Jen – The heart of Compassion virtuous?
and wrong behavior of the goodness and (goodwill, sympathy, and generosity)
• A man has virtue as a flautist.
badness of the human character.
2. YI – The heart of Righteousness
• A person of virtue is someone who
Character – defined as the mental and moral (righteousness, respect of duty,
performs the distinctive activity of being
qualities distinct to an individual, it usually respect position as guardian towards
human well.
denotes to the moral dimension of a person. nature & humanity)
• Called the “Doctrine of the Golden
MORAL CHARACTER– refers to the “existence 3. Li – The heart of Propriety (etiquette,
Mean”
(or lack of) virtues such as customs, & rituals)
• Aristotle understood virtue as a
(Integrity, Courage, Fortitude, Honest, and 4. Zhi – The heart of Wisdom (Wisdom character that can be developed, and
Loyalty) and practicing Jen, Yi, and Li in one’s that this can be developed by practicing
life) the golden mean. Time, good behavior
Moral Character as Disposition will come naturally.
Moral Characters are those dispositions to act or
Aristotle & Virtue Ethics
think in a particular way for which a person can VIRTUE ETHICS
Why do we have to be virtuous?
be held morally responsible. • Eudaimonia – “Happiness”, “Well-
• is an approach that reduces the
Moral Character traits are: being” or “Good life”
emphasis on rules, consequence, and
particular acts. • Aristotle believed to achieve
• Rational
Eudaimonia you need to practice the
• focuses on the quality of the person.
• Informed virtues in your everyday activity all
• does not focus on whether an action is through your life.
• Stable
right or wrong, nor on whether the
• Reliable dispositions consequences are good or bad ABOUT DAVID HUME
What does it mean to be a good • Scottish philosopher, historian,
Philosophical Views on Moral
economist, and essayist known
Character person?
• especially for his
Confucian Traditions • Aristotle believed that humans have an philosophical empiricism and skepticism
essence.
• For Confucian traditions moral • He concluded that no theory of reality is
• He called essence proper functioning. possible; there can be
development was attributed to “four
beginnings” of the human personality. • A person is also good if he or she fulfills • no knowledge of anything beyond
what nature expects of him or her. experience. Despite the enduring
Personality- “an achieved state of moral
excellence” • A person according to Aristotle is also a • impact of his theory of knowledge,
“Rational animal” and “Social animal” Hume seems to have considered
• A “good” person is one who fulfills all • himself chiefly as a moralist.
these functions
ABOUT DAVID HUME’S • Arises immediately from good to evil, • Emotion is the most important aspect in
from pain or pleasure that we human existence
THEORY experience or expect to experience.
• Emotions/Feelings are inherent
Hume's separation between Matters of Fact and Other direct passion: aversion, hope, fear, grief objective and it exists even if you have
Relations of Ideas is often referred to a and joy. not experienced it before
"Hume's fork".
Indirect Passion • Feelings are the purest sphere in human
Hume explains his theory of Causation and consciousness
causal inference by division into three different • Caused by the sensation of pain derived
parts. from some other idea or impression. 4 Strata of Feelings (Stratification model of
Emotive Life)
He is most known for his 4 assertive theses: • Pride is a passion that emanated from
the pleasure you get for possessing 1.Sensual Feelings
1. Reason alone cannot be a motive to the admirable (it could be intellect,
will, but rather the “slave of the physique, property, family) • -Bodily Pleasure/Pain
passions.”
Other indirect passion: humility, ambition, vanity, 2.Vital Feelings
2. Moral distinctions are not derived from love, hatred, envy, pity, malice, generosity. • -Life Functions
reasons.
SCHELER AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF • -Health, Sickness, Energy
3. Moral distinctions are derived from the FEELINGS
moral sentiments: feelings of approval 3.Psychic Feelings
(esteem, praise) and disapproval ABOUT MAX FERDINAND SCHELER:
(blame) felt by spectators who • -About aesthetics, justice and
• Max Ferdinand Scheler knowledge
contemplate a character traits or action.
• German Ethical Philosopher 4.Spiritual Feelings
4. While some virtues and vices are
natural, others (including justice) are • Known for his contribution in • -Divine
artificial. phenomenology, ethics and
philosophical anthropology An argument is reasonable if:
Hume sided with the moral sense theorists that
a person gains awareness of moral good and • Difference Between Responses Based 1. The facts are correct
evil by experiencing the pleasure of approval on Reason and on Feelings
and the uneasiness of disapproval. 2. The moral principles are correctly applied
• Reason over Feelings
Reason alone is insufficient to yield a judgment 3. Each individual well being is treated equally
that something is virtuous or vicious. • Philosopher and Professor Dr. James and important.
Rachels asserted that in moral
What is the Role of the Feelings in Decision
David Hume’s Theory of Mind reasoning you could not rely on your
making?
feelings no matter how powerful these
Direct Passion feelings may be. • Reason plays a role in making a moral
• decision.
Caused directly by the sensation of pain • Feelings can be irrational and also
or pleasure. product of prejudice, selfishness, or • It should be noted too that our moral
cultural conditioning compasses are also powerful influenced
by feelings.
 • Hume claimed that in any given situation St. Thomas Aquinas Aquinas’s major work, the Summa Theologica,
a person would act based on emotion is divided into 4 parts.
rather than reason (Bucciarelli, et al.,  Born: Thomas Aquinas
2008). About 1225, Roccasecca,  Prima Pars (1st Part) Existence
and Nature of God
• Reasoning in moral decisions is Kingdom of Sicily
preceded by an initial intuition or gut-feel  Prima Secundae (1st Part of the
 Died:7 March 1274 2nd Part) Happiness,
(Haidt, 2012). Fossanova, Papal States Psychology, Virtues, Law
• Alfred Jules Ayer described two  Occupation: Priest, Philosopher, (Human, Natural, Divine)
elements in moral judgment: the
“emotive” and the “prescriptive” Theologian  Secunda Secundae (2nd Part of
elements (2012). the 2nd Part) The virtues in detail
 Feast Day: January 28
• The emotive element in moral decision  Tertia Pars (3rd Part) Christian
 Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (28 January Doctrine
meant expressing positive feelings
1225 – 7 March 1274), also Thomas of
towards a particular act. During the Middle Ages, many of Aristotle’s
Aquin or Aquino, was an
• The prescriptive is an instruction or Italian Dominican priest, and an works were lost to Western Europe, beginning in
prescription of a particular behavior. immensely the first few centuries AD.
influential philosopher and theologian in Aquinas merged Aristotle with Christianity after
TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT the tradition of scholasticism, within
(Epistemology) the recovery of his philosophy via Muslim
which he is also known as the "Doctor scholars in the 12th and 13th century.
1. Nativists /Rationalists – (Rene Angelicus", "Doctor Communis", and
Descartes) "Doctor Universalis". The ‘purposiveness’ or ‘end-directedness’ of
nature in Aristotle is identified by Aquinas with
Hold that it is reason, not experience that is  "Aquinas" is the demonym of Aquino, his God’s purposes.
most important for our acquisition of knowledge. home town.
Knowledge is innate in man. Natural Law
 Dominican (1225–1244)
Before man is born, ideas are already Human nature determines what is ‘natural’ in
 Thomas was born in Roccasecca, in ‘Natural Law’.
embedded in his mind. (Plato) the Aquino county of the Kingdom of
2. Empiricists (Sir John Locke) and Sicily (present-day Lazio region, Italy), Viewed from the human perspective, the
circa January 28, 1225. principles of natural law are knowable by human
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) nature and are structured to aid in furthering
 Thomas was a theologian and individual and communal goods.
The mind is like a TABULA RASA- clean sheet / a Scholastic philosopher.
blank tablet. “there is nothing in the mind that God’s commands determine what is ‘lawful’
has not passed first through the senses.”  Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in ‘Natural Law’.

At birth we know nothing; it is only subsequently  Aquinas was dubbed “the dumb ox” by Viewed from God’s perspective, humans
that the mind is furnished with information by his fellow students, for being large and participate in the Eternal Law, which is God’s
experience. quiet. He was apparently quiet because eternal plan— “A law is a rule of action put in
he was busy thinking; he became the place by someone who has care of the
(Berkeley & Hume) Catholic church’s top theologian, a title community” –Mark Murphy
he still holds today, without dispute.