Assignment topic

"Virtue Ethics"
Submitted to:

Submitted by:

Institute of Banking and Finance

Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan

An Alternative Approach to Moral Principles

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 VIRTUE ETHICS

Virtue Ethics

•Behavior showing high moral standards
•A quality considered morally good or desirable
in aperson
•The good result that comes from something
•The branch of knowledge that deals with
moralprinciples
•A set of moral principles, especially ones
relating toor affirming a specified group, field,
or form ofconduct.

Virtue Ethics is an ethical theory that focuses on the character of the person rather than the details of
a single action.

Virtue ethics is the oldest ethical theory in the world, the origin is in Ancient Greece.

1. Character-based ethics
2. Deals not only with the rightness or wrongness of individual actions, it provides guidance
as a sort of characteristic and behaviour a good person will seek to achieve.

It is an approach to ethics that emphasizes an individual's character as let element of critical thinking
rather than rules about the act themselves or their consequences.

Example:

The character of Batman who killed Joker was not the kind of person whowants to kill, but he still killed
him because it was the right thing to do.

It is under Virtue Ethics, it shows how a virtuous human being should be.

NATURE OF VIRTUE

A moral virtue is an acquired disposition to behave in certain ways that is valued as part of the character
of a morally good human being.

A moral virtue must be acquired, and is not just a natural characteristic such as intelligence, or beauty,
or natural strength. A moral virtue is praiseworthy, in part, because it is an achievement—its
development requires effort.

THEORIES

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• Aristotle:

"Virtues are habits that enable a person to live

according to reason by habitually choosing the
mean between extremes in actions and
emotions." Human desires are always too
much to control. So, negotiation is needed to
find the balance between excessive (too much)
and deficiency (too little). Golden mean
represents balance between the extremes and
deficiencies.

This philosophy is not applicable to certain situations.

 Firstly, some of the moral activities have no middle path to follow.

 Secondly, virtue does not even have to truly be between two extremes.
 Thirdly, people tend to ignore the “golden mean” when they take any action in reality because
emotion somehow rules the brain’s decision.

• Aquinas: "Virtues are habits that enable a person to live reasonably in this world and be united with
God in the next."

• MacIntyre: Virtues are dispositions that enable a person to achieve the good at which human
“practices” aim.
• Pincoffs: Virtues are dispositions we use when choosing between persons or potential future selves.

VIRTUE AND PRINCIPLES

There is not a single simple relationship between the virtues and our moral principles.

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  Some virtues enable people to do what moral principles require.
For example: Courage enables us to stick to our moral principles even when attraction tempts
us to do otherwise.
 Some virtues consist of a readiness to act on moral principles.
For example: Justice is the virtue of being disposed to follow principles of justice.
 Some virtues are dispositions that our moral principles require us to develop.
For example: Utilitarianism requires us to develop dispositions such as kindness and generosity
that will lead us to increase the happiness of people.
 Some virtues consist of a readiness to act on moral principles.
For example: Justice is the virtue of being disposed to follow principles of justice.
 Some virtues are dispositions that our moral principles require us to develop.
For example: Utilitarianism requires us to develop dispositions such as kindness and generosity
that will lead us to increase the happiness of people.

Virtue ethics differs from principles of ethics in following perspectives:

Virtue Ethics Principles of Ethics

A theory of virtue judges actions in terms of the An ethic of principles judges dispositions in terms
dispositions that are associated with those actions. of the actions associated with those dispositions.

For an ethic of virtue dispositions are primary. For an ethic of principles actions are primary.

Virtues look at the moral life in terms of the kind Principles look at the moral life in terms of the
of person morality obligates us to be. actions that morality obligates us to perform.

Conclusion:

An ethic of virtue is not a fifth kind of moral principle that should take its place alongside the
principles of utilitarianism, rights, justice, and caring.

Instead, an ethic of virtue fills out and adds to these principles by looking not at the actions people are
required to perform, but at the character they are required to have.

An adequate ethic of virtue, then, will look at the virtues that are associated with utilitarianism, with
rights, with justice, and those associated with caring.

In addition, it will look at the virtues people need to adhere to their moral principles when their
feelings, desires, and passions tempt them to do otherwise. It will look at the many other virtues that
the principles of utilitarianism, rights, justice, and caring require a person to cultivate. An ethic of virtue
addresses same landscape of issues that an ethic of principles does, but it also addresses issues related
to motivation and feelings that are largely ignored by an ethic of principles.