Normative ethical theories provide advice about what we ethically should do.

Normative theories, though, do focus on very practical ethical questions. Each of the normative ethical theories we will examine has a suggestion about
what we should do, ethically.

The first normative ethical theory we will consider is virtue ethics. In this chapter I first lay out the main points of virtue ethics as they have been developed
both by a classic virtue theorist—Aristotle (337 BCE)—and a contemporary proponent of Aristotelian virtue ethics—Martha Nussbaum (1988). 1 The main
ideas of virtue ethics include: virtues as traits of character, habits and excellences, happiness/flourishing, exemplars (role models), and spheres of human
experience.

Let’s first lay out the main points of virtue ethics that are pertinent to the present discussion.

In the study of ethics, going all the way back to antiquity, concepts like courage, generosity, honesty, humility, etc., are known as moral virtues. Moral
virtues are regarded as a type of behavioral characteristic of individual persons. To be a characteristic or firm disposition indicates something more
substantial than simply a once-performed action. Genuinely to be a virtue, what we mean is that the person has a habit of performing particular kinds of
acts. If a person possesses the virtue of generosity, for example, that means that he or she has the habit of performing generous acts. Moral virtues are
developed through repeated actions. Humans are born with the potential to develop these virtues, Aristotle claims, not born with fully formed virtues.

(Virtue of character results from habit. . . . Hence it is also clear that none of the virtues of character arises in us naturally. . . . And so the virtues arise in us
neither by nature nor against nature. Rather, we are by nature able to acquire them, and we are completed through habit. (Aristotle 337 BCE: 18))

And whether the moral virtue will be developed or not depends on an individual’s choice of actions. Aristotle maintains that humans are rational creatures,
so humans are aware of what they are doing; they thus have the choice about which actions to perform, and which actions to perform repeatedly.

Humans can reflect on the habits they have, and decide whether they are satisfied with their habits, or resolve to change them (think of turning over a new
leaf for the New Year). This kind of developmental process not only applies to moral development, but physical and mental development too.
Think of the repeated actions necessary to achieve physical fitness. In education, think of the challenge of mental exercises performed to enhance one’s
mental development, or more specifically, think of writing ability, both mental and physical—whether pen or keyboard.

A social environment, then, is very important for the development of virtue. Another concept that comes into play here is the notion of a role model. Virtue
ethicist Julia Annas goes so far to say that “Aristotle’s account of moral development . . . relies on role-models” (Annas 2003: 28). This is because human
beings naturally learn from others; they are natural imitators (most of the time they don’t even realize it). Because human beings are natural imitators,
Aristotle thinks it is very significant for an individual to have good role models in their social environment, most especially in their youth, when foundational
habits are forming. For the most part, one is more likely to develop moral virtues if one is exposed to role models who possess moral virtues. We can very
easily imagine being exposed to role models who lack moral virtues, and given our social nature, we may develop the same bad habits in ourselves. It is
possible to understand “social environment” very broadly here, to include cultural environment, which for us would introduce various forms of media such
as literature, television, audio, video, etc., as possible ways in which people will be exposed to various role models. So Holmes Rolston III, for instance, has
claimed that the Good Samaritan “has been a role model for millennia” (Rolston III 2004: 238). And obviously Rolston means this as an example of a text-
based role model.

Normative ethical theories provide practical advice about what we ethically should do and how we should live. Virtue ethics provides this: it
recommends what kind of person we should strive to become, and in doing so recommends what we should do. We should seek good habits, virtues, and
this involves doing what a virtuous person would do. And we should avoid bad habits, vices. In Nussbaum’s terminology, we should seek what is
appropriate in the spheres of experiences that we necessarily encounter in