Module 6

Virtue Ethics and Natural Law

OBJECTIVES:
• Internalize the principles of virtue ethics and its variants
• Identify the connection between the teachings of Aristotle and St. Thomas of Aquinas

VIRTUE ETHICS (Aristotle)

“Every art and every kind of inquiry, and likewise every act and purpose, seems to aim at some good:
and so it has been well said that the good is that at which everything aims.” (The Nicomachean
Ethics of Aristotle)
Virtue Ethics
• The Good
• Virtuous Character

General Concepts:
• Virtue
• Practical Wisdom
• Flourishing

Aristotle
• Classical Philosopher
• REASON is the highest faculty of a person
Virtue Ethics argues that character and a concrete conception of the human good are central to
ethics – which the right question to ask when working out what it means to be ethical is NOT “what
should I do” but “what sort of person should I be?” The emphasis is the importance of moral character
– in particular the possession of some combination of ‘virtues’ including practical wisdom – in
determining the right action, and the proper understanding of right action with reference to concrete
conceptions of the good, or human flourishing… The three central concepts in Virtue Ethics are VIRTUE,
PRACTICAL WISDOM, and FLOURISHING. (Oxford University Press)
In the West, Virtue Ethics’ founding fathers are Plato and Aristotle, and in the East, it can be traced
back to Mencius and Confucius.
Telos
• What is the ULTIMATE PURPOSE of a person?
• Criteria for the Ultimate Telos:
o Final – you can no longer find other purpose above it. (basically highest)
o Self-sufficient – when achieved you no longer have other desires, feeling of contentment
o Attainable – not impossible to reach
• The highest purpose of a man is to achieve EUDAIMONIA

Eudaimonia
• HUMAN FLOURISHING, HAPPINESS
• Highest purpose and highest good
• Not an emotion
• Not Nirvana
• Can be achieved by fulfilling one’s ERGON
 • EUDAIMONISTIC LIFE – life that is full of happiness as a result of being able to achieved
something
Ergon
• What is the FUNTION of a person?
• FUNTCTION: an activity of reason
• A GOOD PERSON:
o Performs his rational activity well
o In an excellent way (arete)
VIRTUE (Arete)
A virtue is an excellent trait of character. It is a disposition, well entrenched in its possessor. This is
something that goes all the way down, unlike a habit such as being a tea-drinker. It goes all the way
down to how you notice, expect, value, feel, desire, choose, act, and react in certain ways. To possess
a virtue is to be a person whose mindset is to wholeheartedly accept a distinctive range of
consideration as reasons for action.
For example, an honest person cannot be identified simply as one who practices honest dealing and
does not cheat. If such action is done merely because the agent thinks that honesty is the best policy,
he is not an honest person. An honest person cannot be identified simply because he tells the truth
because it is the truth. An honest person’s reasons and choices with respect to honest and dishonest
actions should reflect her views about honesty, truth, and deception – such views should manifest
themselves with respect to other actions and to emotional reactions as well. Valuing honesty means
choosing whenever possible to work with honest people, to have honest friends, to bring up children
to be honest, do disapprove or dislike dishonesty, to despise those who succeed through deception
rather than thinking they are clever.
For the Greeks, virtue is equivalent to excellence. A virtuous person is someone who performs a
distinctive activity of being human well. For Aristotle, moral virtue is a disposition to behave in the right
manner and as a mean between extremes of deficiency and excess. It is a matter of having the
appropriate attitude toward pain and pleasure. Aristotle provided a list of principle virtues with their
corresponding vices. A virtuous person is a morally good, excellent or admirable person who acts and
feels as he should and who exhibits all of the virtues.

Virtue
Deficient (-) Excess (+)
(Mesotes/Mean/Balance)
Cowardice COURAGE Rashness
Stinginess GENEROSITY Extravagance
Sloth AMBITION Greed
Humility MODESTY Pride
Secrecy HONESTY Loquacity
Moroseness GOOD HUMOR Absurdity
Quarrelsomeness FRIENDSHIP Flattery
Self-indulgence TEMPERANCE Insensibility
Apathy COMPOSURE Irritability
Indecisiveness SELF CONTROL Impulsiveness
 Virtue
• The appropriate attitude towards pain and pleasure
• The MEAN between two vices (deficiency and excess)

• Intellectual Virtue
o Act of knowing
o Acquired through teaching and learning
o Phronesis (Practical Wisdom)

• Moral Virtue
o The good, the right actions
o Acquired through habit

• What we should know about moral virtue

o Most feelings/passions are neutral nether good or bad
o Moral virtue is the EXACT MANAGEMENT of one’s feelings and passions
o Wrong actions have no mean
“Just as men become builders by building, they become just by doing just acts, and temperate by
doing temperate acts… and the activities which produce excellence are those in which both excess
and defect are avoided” –Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics
PRACTICAL WISDOM (Phronesis)
“What we have to learn to do we learn by doing.” – Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
“A man is aware that light meats are easily digested and beneficial to health but does not know what
meats are light. Such a man is not so likely to make you well as one who knows that chicken is good
for you.” –Aristotle, NE Book VI.
Aristotle defined phronesis as “a state of grasping the truth, involving reason, concerned with action
about what is good or bad for a human being” (Hibbert, 2012). This concept involves deliberation that
is based on values, concerned with practical judgment and informed by reflection. It is pragmatic,
variable, context-dependent, and oriented toward action. Phronesis emphasizes reflection (both
deliberative and that revealed through action) as a means to inform wise action, to assist one to
navigate the variable contexts of practice. The person who has phronesis can be described as
a phronimos. (Costello, 2017)
The phronimos is good at deliberation: he can sum up a situation, weigh up various factors, and work
out what to do to promote or achieve his objectives. Often enough, because of his experience and
wisdom, he can see straight off the best thing to do, without having to go through a process of
deliberation. (Costello, 2017)
HUMAN FLOURISHING (Eudaimonia)
Aristotle regards the purpose of human life as “consisting of the pursuit of ends” and described this end
as being eudaimonia. This concept however is usually translated unsatisfactorily as “happiness”.
However, for Aristotle, the concept goes beyond this and he contends that eudaimonia is “an activity
of soul in accordance with virtue”.
Aristotle purported, in his ethical writings, that each person has an innate responsibility to strive,
develop, and become his or her best self. This concept is known as human flourishing (Treddenick,
2004). Flourishing is the purest of all human endeavors and is the purpose of well-lived life (Seligman,
2014). Human flourishing should be considered as a verb, not a noun, as it is about the actions a person
takes to cultivate personal well-being (Bunkers, 2010). It is about living the richest life one can have by
being virtuous.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ Ethics
Natural Law Theory
• The Christian Context
• Metaphysical Grounding

Points of Consideration
• Religious Pluralism
• What if the if the individual is purely secular?
• Leap of faith requires going beyond the ethical

St. Thomas Aquinas

• Medieval Philosopher
• Christian Thinker
• Made use of Pagan Thinkers’ work to explain the Christian teachings
• REASON and FREEDOM – Gifts from God
 The essence of LAW
• Law
o Ordinance of reason
o For the common good
o Made by him who has care for the community
o And promulgated

Various Kinds of Law

• Eternal Law – God’s plan for everything, the mind of God
• Natural Law – A human person can take part in (moral law)
• Human Law – Interpretation of Natural Law
• Divine Law – Scripture, Revelation of God’s will
(Excerpt from DeYoung, McCluskey and Van Dyke, 2009)
St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/25-1274) is a towering figure in the history of Philosophy. Above and beyond
his independent works (including, most famously, the Summa Theologiae and the Summa Contra
Gentiles), Aquinas also wrote extensive commentaries on most of Aristotle’s treatises and on numerous
books of the Bible. In addition, he participated actively in the intellectual debates of his day.
Why is it, after all, that two people can live on the same street, work at the same job, and yet one
person experiences constant frustration and anxiety in his life while the other flourishes? Is it better to
become a marine biologist or a day-care worker? Can anyone justify becoming a professional
musician when people are starving throughout the world? How we to think about the purpose of our
lives are – how are we, for example, to balance personal fulfillment with the demands of living in
community?
Instead of focusing purely on a theoretical understanding of the nature of a good moral character,
Aquinas also provides practical instructions for living. When he discusses virtues and vices in the Summa
theologiae, for example, he addresses not just abstract questions, such as how we should define virtue,
but also practical issues, such as how to show gratitude toward someone who does use a favor we are
too poor to repay. This dual concern shows up repeatedly in his ethical works and underscores his
commitment to putting belief into action.
The Connection to Aristotle
The strategy of Aquinas’ ethical theory closely mirrors Aristotle’s approach in the Nichomachean Ethics.
Aquinas and Aristotle both agree that the study of ethics should have a practical goal and that human
flourishing is the end goal for human beings. Because they begin with differing metaphysical and
theological commitments, however, they diverge when they approach the nature of this ultimate end.
Aristotle stresses our status as rational animals and described the happy life rather broadly as “the life
of activity expressing reason well”. Aquinas, on the other hand, emphasizes our status as beings
created by God; the point of the ethical life for Aquinas is, correspondingly, not just a life of flourishing
rationality but, more specifically, a life of intimate union with God. Thus, while Aristotle is highly
interested in moral education and character formation, Aquinas sees the deeper purpose of moral
education and character formation as preparing us for union with God.
Aristotle believes that having the right moral character is necessary for the flourishing human life, and
that the right use of reason will show us what counts as the right sort of moral character. Aquinas
believes that we are created in God’s image, and that we flourish most when our likeness is closest to
that image – that is, when we most closely resemble God in the ways appropriate to human beings.
As demonstrated, the most striking features of Aquinas scholarship are its conscious synthesis of
Aristotelian philosophy with his Christian beliefs. Aquinas fundamentally agrees with Aristotle that
human beings are rational animals and that the human function can be properly understood as living
the life of activity expressing reason. He also agrees that human excellence consists in performing that
function well. He holds, however, that these claims need to be further understood in the context of our
status as created beings.
In the prologue of his treatise on happiness, Aquinas states that human beings are created in the image
of God. This fact is essential to understanding their nature, he claims, since “human beings are said to
be made in the image of God, where ‘image’ signifies ‘intellectual being who possesses both free
choice and power over its actions’”. What it means for us to be created in God’s image, according to
Aquinas, is, first, and foremost, that we possess intellect, will, and the resulting ability to act on our own
power. This link to the Creator further explains why our function involves both reasoning well and acting
in the basis of that reasoning.
We have intellects and wills, capacities that allow us to discover what out powers to act are intended
for and how we are meant to act. In short, we are teleological beings, created by God with a particular
function and for particular purpose. Aquinas claims that our excellence consists in the activity of
knowing and loving God.

References:
• Aristotle, ., Ross, W. D., & Brown, L. (2009). The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
• Costello, G. (2017). Aristotle’s Phronesis: Seeking philosophical foundations for design science
research. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318722910Links to an
external site.
• Links to an external site.DeYoung, R. K., McCluskey, C. & Van Dyke, C. (2009). Aquinas’ Ethics:
Metaphysical foundations, moral theory, and theological context. Indiana: University of Notre
Dame Press