VIRTUE ETHICS

- Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek ἀρετή [aretḗ]) is an approach to ethics that treats
the concept of moral virtue as central. Virtue ethics is usually contrasted with two other major
approaches in ethics, consequentialism and deontology, which make the goodness of outcomes
of an action (consequentialism) and the concept of moral duty (deontology) central. While
virtue ethics does not necessarily deny the importance of goodness of states of affairs or moral
duties to ethics, it emphasizes moral virtue, and sometimes other concepts, like eudaimonia, to
an extent that other ethical dispositions do not.

- Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. It is the quest to
understand and live a life of moral character.

This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By
practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and
moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the
right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

- What are the 3 characteristics of virtue ethics? These are arête (excellence or virtue) phronesis
(practical or moral wisdom) and eudaimonia (usually translated as happiness or flourishing.)
- Virtue ethics is one the three major theories of normative ethics. The two pioneers behind
virtues ethics are Aristotle and Plato. Plato argued that being virtuous entails having a clear view
of the form of the virtue.
- Virtues can be compared to skills and are acquired through proper upbringing. Aristotle
identified some virtues and they include: courage, temperance, wittiness, friendliness, modesty,
righteous, indignation, truthfulness, patience, ambition, magnanimity, magnificence, and
liberality (Adams 67). The cardinal vices are pride, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, sloth and pride.

Aristotle believed that virtues are acquired through habituation. Virtues are subject to
dispositions where a disposition is defined as a property that results only under certain
conditions. This property is influenced by emotions which guide us to respond to the prevailing
circumstances. According to Irwin (26) Aristotle also believed that virtues are mean. In this
regard, virtuous actions lie between two alternative actions which are classified as excessive and
deficient. For instance, courage lies between cowardice and rashness while truthfulness lies
between understatement and boastfulness.

Following these observations, it is right to say that in Aristotle’s view, virtues are dispositions
that human beings should display depending on the prevailing circumstances. At the same time,
just like other living things, the function of the human beings is to live according to reason
(Rachels 59). The concept is what Aristotle referred to as the eudaimonia. The term also refers
to a fulfilled life or happiness. It is the goal of each person to live a happy life and happiness can
only derived from performing virtuous acts. However, in modern times, the concept of
eudaimonia is now referred to as human flourishing. Unfortunately, most people define good
life as life as full of pleasure, and self-gratification.

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 Virtue ethics purposes to create good human beings rather than promote good acts or rules. In
particular, it offers a natural and attractive account of moral motivation. Remember duty and
utility are poor explanations of human interaction. This is because carrying out an action as a
duty is completely impersonal. In addition, the sense of duty encourages human beings to
behave in an inhuman manner as such the agents do not factor in the feelings of others.

When it comes to utility, behaviour that is based on utility does not foster relationships between
human beings. Moreover, behaviour based on utility does not take into accounts the feelings of
others, rather it emphasizes on an idealized form of happiness. In contrast, by avoiding a distinct
formula, virtue ethics theory encourages human beings to become good people. Other
advantages of virtue ethics are discussed below.

To illustrate the difference among three key moral philosophies, ethicists Mark White and
Robert Arp refer to the film The Dark Knight where Batman has the opportunity to kill the Joker.
Utilitarians, White and Arp suggest, would endorse killing the Joker. By taking this one life,
Batman could save multitudes. Deontologists, on the other hand, would reject killing the Joker
simply because it’s wrong to kill. But a virtue ethicist “would highlight the character of the
person who kills the Joker. Does Batman want to be the kind of person who takes his enemies’
lives?” No, in fact, he doesn’t.

So, virtue ethics helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being. And it gives
us a guide for living life without giving us specific rules for resolving ethical dilemmas.

- Virtue ethics emphasizes the role of one's character and the virtues that one's character
embodies for determining or evaluating ethical behavior. Virtue ethics is one of the three major
approaches to normative ethics, often contrasted to deontology which emphasizes duty to rules
and consequentialism which derives rightness or wrongness from the outcome of the act itself.
The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the ways in
which moral dilemmas are approached, rather than in the moral conclusions reached. For
example, a consequentialist may argue that lying is wrong because of the negative
consequences produced by lying—though a consequentialist may allow that certain foreseeable
consequences might make lying acceptable. A deontologist might argue that lying is always
wrong, regardless of any potential "good" that might come from lying. A virtue ethicist,
however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a
decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and moral behavior.

STRENGTHS OF VIRTUE ETHICS

- Character Traits
Virtue Ethics deals with a person’s virtues and how he or she uses them in making the lives of
other people better. If a person has virtues, he or she can act morally and will be able to treat
others with respect, compassion and love. These virtues prompt a person to do good things to
others because these are innate in him or her, as opposed to the theory of Kant where people
are forced to do good deeds out of duty.

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- Better People
Virtues such as generosity, honesty, compassion, friendliness, assertiveness and the like are
already present in people and should be practiced in everyday living. The theory of Virtue Ethics
makes it possible for people to be better individuals and members of society who are willing to
help other people, thinking of others first over personal interest. With these virtues, people
become better persons.
- Broad and Holistic
Having no particular criteria, Virtue Ethics encompasses different virtues which are important
live in harmony with other people. It also does not attempt to worsen the complexity of things
by categorizing what are moral acts or not nut instead had developed throughout the years.
Also, as compared to other ethical theories which can be a threat to morality and are confusing,
Virtue Ethics is a holistic approach that it considers the totality of a person, including the skills,
character traits and emotions.
- Agent-centered
Another powerful attribute of Virtue Ethics is its centeredness or focus on the character of the
moral agent and not concerned on consequence and duty or obligation. This also makes it
flexible since it allows an individual to decide depending on his or her moral values and not just
by simply following the law.
- Sense of Community
Virtue Ethics motivates an individual to have high regard to personal relationships and
encourage or motivates a person to be sensitive of others and take care of other people.
- Preservation of Goodness
According to Tacitus, people can be easily corrupted with power and luxury which can impede
liberty. Having said this, Virtue Ethics serves as a shield against polluting the minds of individuals
and making them bad people. Instead, this approach makes it possible for an individual to
preserve and make better the life he or she already has and enjoy it rather than dream of a life
with luxury and power.
- The Ideal of Impartiality
Human beings cannot be impartial especially when family members and friends are concerned.
In many instances, the love of family members and friends becomes inescapable. On this
account, virtue ethics does not emphasize on impartiality unlike other theories.
- Unifying Reason and Emotions
Aristotle observed that human beings have the ability to reason and this ability sets them apart
from the other living creatures. Indeed, human beings have the ability to recognize ends and
thus can choose an action that will lead to a good end when faced with two options. At the
same time, human beings have emotions that inform their judgements. It is not enough to
follow rules and regulations irrespective of internal emotions and feelings. This position, which is
held by the virtue theory, conflicts with Kant’s view that human beings should act from duty
even if they are not disposed to do so. Following Kant’s view it is possible for human beings to
choose the right actions, but they may not live good lives besides not developing virtuous
characteristics.
- Emphasizes Moderation
Unlike other theories, the virtue ethics theory does not prescribe to rigid rules and principles of
behaviour. Instead, it is based on moral virtues which is a mean between extremes. For instance

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 pride is considered as an average midpoint between vanity and selling yourself short. At the
same time, the theory resolves conflict between two absolute duties. For instance, when faced
by a mad axe-man demanding his children, a virtuous agent will make a reasonable choice.

Besides displaying moderation, virtue ethics prescribes to situational relativism whereby wrong or
right is based on the particular situation. This concept makes the theory more practical because no
particular action is ever correct and it provides complete solution to our everyday moral problems.
Its flexibility and no-dogmatic approach also resolves disagreements arising from other theories.

WEAKNESSES OF VIRTUE ETHICS

- Without Focus
Critics of virtue ethics say that this theory lacks focus when it comes to determining the types of
actions that are morally acceptable and permitted from the ones that should be avoided.
Instead, it concentrates more on the qualities an individual has to enhance or improve in order
to become a good person. Virtue theorists can consider murder as an immoral act which makes
it unsuitable to be used as a moral act when it comes to legislation, say in court. It is also
considered to be not action-guiding.
- Nature of Virtues
Another weakness attributed to virtue ethics is the difficulty in determining the nature if virtues.
This is due to the difference in opinions and perspectives of people who are inherently different
from each other and came from diverse cultures and societies. These aspects lead to differences
on what is morally right or wrong for people. Thus, it is hard to identify these virtues.
- Self-centeredness
According to opponents of virtue ethics, it deals with a person’s own character when it is
supposed to be how the actions of an individual affect other people. Other theory of ethics
expects a person to think or regard other people instead of personal gain and interest.
- Misguidance
Those who are not in favor of virtue ethics find this theory to be misguiding when it comes to
educating or motivating people. This is because it leads people to rely on luck when it comes to
attaining moral maturity. Also, this can result to people asking why others are luckier to have
achieved moral maturity while there will be those who are not lucky enough even if this is not
brought about by their own doings.
- Limited
Since Virtue Ethics concentrate on only a limited number of virtues, it is not able to help the
population but only an individual. This is one of the weaknesses seen by opponents, saying that
this theory is not concentrating on the bigger picture.
- It is Not Action-Guiding
A common manifestation of virtue is an organization’s ‘statement of values’. These values are
important to an organization. However, the theory relies on contingencies or variable
circumstances. Consequently, it fails to provide clear guidelines on how people ought to behave.
- Incompleteness
It has been suggested that virtue ethics theory fails to give a good account of right action. That is
why the virtue theory is considered as an adjunct to theories of right action. As a result of its

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 incompleteness, it does may not offer any solution to specific moral dilemmas. The
incompleteness of the virtue ethics theory results from concentrating too much on the moral
agent.

However, according to Adams (78) even through virtue ethics theory is incomplete, the
normative theories too have limitations. For instance, the utilitarianism fails to consider the
agent and distinguish the different motives for action. On the other hand, deontological theories
are too rigid.

- Is Selfish
As earlier indicated, the theory emphasizes on reason and emotions. For instance, when faced
by a mad axe-man demanding his children, a virtuous character does not give priority to the
feelings of the man but the safety of his children. That is why the theory is considered to be
selfish in that it sometimes disregards the feelings of other people.

Morals are Not Natural

- Brady (90) posits that an action is right if and only if it is what a virtuous agent would do in the
circumstances. This definition is very subjective rather than objective. For instance, soldiers
fighting are considered courageous but that do not make them morally good. In any case, not all
human beings have the opportunity to develop morally and so it becomes hard to judge them.
- The idea of moderation is not applicable in all situations. For instance compassion does not have
an extreme vice. More so, it is also sometimes to identify where the mean lies. This position is
supported by Hursthouse (1999) who argues that the definition of what is virtuous is
ambiguous.
- The ambiguity of the virtues ethics theory can be examined through cultural relativism. Different
cultures have different moral codes and is also becomes hard to justify whether an action is right
or wrong. In addition, virtues ethics does not produce codified principles and so its applicability
in the society becomes rather limited. Brady (2005) suggests the problem results from its agent-
centred approach rather than embracing the act-centred perspective. Failure to direct what
human beings are expected to do leaves room for uncertainty. A case in point, virtue ethics do
not subscribe to basic concepts such as rights and obligations. In such a case, it becomes hard to
come up with absolute virtues that can be cultivated in the society. At the same time, the theory
does explain why human beings should prefer certain ideals to others.
- In sum, according to the virtue ethics theory, a moral agent should display an appropriate
emotional response depending on the situation at hand. Aristotle observed that virtues are
acquired through habituation and disposition. However, the fact that theory does not prescribe
to absolute rules creates room for ambiguity and uncertainty. Because it does not have codified
principles, it is hard to implement it in the society as it does not offer guidance on how human
beings should behave. On the positive side, ethics virtue is moderate and it unifies reason and
emotions. Due to its flexibility, the theory provides impartial and practical solutions to some of
the moral dilemmas that cannot be solved by other alternative theories.