VIRTUE ETHICS

BASIC FACTS
- Virtue ethics is a distinct branch of moral theory. It is contrasted with both deontology and
consequentialism.
- It emphasizes moral character or virtue rather than consequences or adherence to duties or
rules.
- A virtue is an “excellent trait of character.” It can also be viewed as a disposition to behave, feel,
think, desire, etc. in certain characteristic ways.
- A virtuous person does not merely act virtuously. They act virtuously because they are disposed
to virtuous ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
- For example, someone acts honestly because they have honest impulses.
- A perfectly virtuous agent will not need to convince themselves to do the virtuous thing or
struggle against certain other desires. Rather, it will come naturally and easily to them to do so.
- Possessing a virtue is a matter of degree.
- Virtues include things like honesty, courage, generosity, etc.
PRACTICAL WISDOM
- According to virtue ethics, the perfectly virtuous agent does not just have the virtuous
disposition. They also have practical wisdom, which allows them to exercise or apply
virtue in the right way.
- For example, the brave person who is brave in situations that don’t call for bravery or is
overly brave to a fault lacks practical wisdom.
- It is not enough to just have good intentions, those intentions must be carried out in the
correct way.
- Practical wisdom generally comes with life experience.
- Those with practical wisdom are able to recognize features of a situation that are
relevant or more important than other features.
- They are also wise about human beings, life, and consequences of possible actions.
 “THESE ASPECTS COALESCE IN THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PRACTICALLY WISE AS
THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS TRULY WORTHWHILE, TRULY IMPORTANT, AND
THEREBY TRULY ADVANTAGEOUS IN LIFE, WHO KNOW, IN SHORT, HOW TO LIVE
WELL.”
FORMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS
- Eudaimonist virtue ethics
- A proponent of eudaimonist virtue ethics believes that a virtue is a trait that
contributes to or is a constituent of eudaimonia.
- We ought to develop virtues because they contribute to eudaimonia.
- Eudaimonia translates to something like happiness or flourishing. It is not simply
happiness but a value-laden sense of happiness such a “true happiness” or the sort
of happiness worth having.
 "ACCORDING TO EUDAIMONIST VIRTUE ETHICS, THE GOOD LIFE IS THE EUDAIMON LIFE, AND THE
VIRTUES ARE WHAT ENABLE A HUMAN BEING TO BE EUDAIMON BECAUSE THE VIRTUES JUST ARE
THOSE CHARACTER TRAITS THAT BENEFIT THEIR POSSESSOR IN THAT WAY, BARRING BAD LUCK.
SO THERE IS A LINK BETWEEN EUDAIMONIA AND WHAT CONFERS VIRTUE STATUS ON A
CHARACTER TRAIT.”
FORMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS
- Agent-based/Exemplarist virtue ethics
- The agent-based virtue ethicist defines moral concepts such as duties, right/wrong
acts, good/bad ends in terms of the motives or dispositions of agents.
- An exemplarist virtue ethicist defines right or good acts in terms of what an
exemplary or perfectly virtuous agent would do.
“AT THE VERY LEAST, AN AGENT-BASED APPROACH MUST BE COMMITTED TO
EXPLAINING WHAT ONE SHOULD DO BY REFERENCE TO THE MOTIVATIONAL AND
DISPOSITIONAL STATES OF AGENTS. BUT THIS IS NOT YET A SUFFICIENT
CONDITION FOR COUNTING AS AN AGENT-BASED APPROACH, SINCE THE SAME
CONDITION WILL BE MET BY EVERY VIRTUE ETHICAL ACCOUNT. FOR A THEORY TO
COUNT AS AN AGENT-BASED FORM OF VIRTUE ETHICS IT MUST ALSO BE THE CASE
THAT THE NORMATIVE PROPERTIES OF MOTIVATIONS AND DISPOSITIONS CANNOT
BE EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF THE NORMATIVE PROPERTIES OF SOMETHING ELSE
(SUCH AS EUDAIMONIA OR STATES OF AFFAIRS) WHICH IS TAKEN TO BE MORE
FUNDAMENTAL.”
FORMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS
- Target-centered virtue ethics
- Target-centered virtue ethics focuses on identifying traits that seem virtuous or
good and then examining what those traits involve.
- A virtue is a disposition to respond to or acknowledge items within a certain field
in an excellent or good way.
- A virtuous act is one that hits its target, i.e. it responds to items in its field in the
right way.
 “A COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF VIRTUE WILL MAP OUT 1) ITS FIELD, 2) ITS MODE OF RESPONSIVENESS,
3) ITS BASIS OF MORAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT, AND 4) ITS TARGET. DIFFERENT VIRTUES ARE
CONCERNED WITH DIFFERENT FIELDS. COURAGE, FOR EXAMPLE, IS CONCERNED WITH WHAT MIGHT
HARM US, WHEREAS GENEROSITY IS CONCERNED WITH THE SHARING OF TIME, TALENT, AND
PROPERTY. THE BASIS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A VIRTUE IS THE FEATURE WITHIN THE VIRTUE’S
FIELD TO WHICH IT RESPONDS. TO CONTINUE WITH OUR PREVIOUS EXAMPLES, GENEROSITY IS
ATTENTIVE TO THE BENEFITS THAT OTHERS MIGHT ENJOY THROUGH ONE’S AGENCY, AND COURAGE
RESPONDS TO THREATS TO VALUE, STATUS, OR THE BONDS THAT EXIST BETWEEN ONESELF AND
PARTICULAR OTHERS, AND THE FEAR SUCH THREATS MIGHT GENERATE. A VIRTUE’S MODE HAS TO
DO WITH HOW IT RESPONDS TO THE BASES OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT WITHIN ITS FIELD.
GENEROSITY PROMOTES A GOOD, NAMELY, ANOTHER’S BENEFIT, WHEREAS COURAGE DEFENDS A
VALUE, BOND, OR STATUS. FINALLY, A VIRTUE’S TARGET IS THAT AT WHICH IT IS AIMED. COURAGE
AIMS TO CONTROL FEAR AND HANDLE DANGER, WHILE GENEROSITY AIMS TO SHARE TIME, TALENTS,
OR POSSESSIONS WITH OTHERS IN WAYS THAT BENEFIT THEM.”
FORMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS
- Platonistic virtue ethics
- Platonistic virtue ethics focuses on the concept of the “good”
- According to platonistic virtue ethics, creatures like humans can attain goodness by
being virtuous
- “Contemplating such goodness with regularity makes room for new habits of
thought that focus more readily and more honestly on things other than the self. It
alters the quality of our consciousness. And “anything which alters consciousness in
the direction of unselfishness, objectivity, and realism is to be connected with virtue”
(Murdoch 1971: 82). The virtues get defined, then, in terms of qualities that help one
“pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world as it really is” (91). And
good agency is defined by the possession and exercise of such virtues.”
OBJECTIONS TO VIRTUE ETHICS
- A) Application
- Objection: virtue ethics fails to live up to the task of an ethical theory, namely, to
offer a decision procedure for determining what an agent should do in a particular
situation that could be understood and applied by the common person
- In other words, virtue ethics has been charged with failing to provide any action
guidance
- Response: virtue ethics is able to provide action guidance by dictating that an agent
should perform actions that are in line with virtues (i.e. do what is compassionate,
honest, etc.) and to avoid performing actions that are in line with vices (don’t do
what is selfish, dishonest, disloyal, etc.)
OBJECTIONS TO VIRTUE ETHICS
- B) Adequacy
- Objection: Virtue ethics is unable to provide an adequate account of the rightness/
wrongness of action
- Some right actions are not virtuous actions and some wrong actions are virtuous
actions
- Virtue does not seem to be the thing that explains an actions rightness or wrongness
- Response: Virtue ethics is not intended to provide an account of right and wrong.
Virtue ethics can provide an account of how one should live, what kind of person
one should be, and what actions one should perform without being committed to an
account of right/wrong action.
- Another possible response is that right and wrong are defined in varying ways in
ethics. A virtue ethicist might claim that a virtuous action is the best action even if it
is not necessarily the “right” action.
OBJECTIONS TO VIRTUE ETHICS
- C) Relativism
- Objection: Virtues are relative to cultures. Thus, virtue ethics will be culturally
relative.
- Actions could only possibly be right or wrong for the virtue ethicist relative to a
particular culture.
- Response: Deontology and consequentialism also have this same problem
- Although cultures might have differing understandings of the virtues but it does not
follow that there are no universal virtues.
OBJECTIONS TO VIRTUE ETHICS
- D) Conflict
- Objection: Virtue ethics does not seem able to give guidance when two or more
virtues conflict in a given situation and point the agent to do opposing actions
- For example:  “Honesty points to telling the hurtful truth, kindness and compassion
to remaining silent or even lying.”
- Response: Those with a good understanding of the virtues who possess practical
wisdom will be able to see that the virtues do not actually conflict because one
allows for exceptions or one outranks the others.