Ethics and Moral Issues

Course Code: GE102

Semester 1 / 2017-2018
Instructor: Dr SC Kwan 關瑞至博士
Assistant Professor
School of Humanities and Languages
Email: sckwan@cihe.edu.hk
Office: Rm 902, TKO Campus
Tel: 3653-6732
 Week 7 Virtue Ethics

Today’s Lecture:

• A. What is Virtue Ethics ( 德性倫理

學 )?
• B. How is Virtue Ethics compared to
Consequentialism & Deontology?
• C. What then is Virtue?
• D. How virtue ethics is applied?
• E. The criticism of Virtue Ethics
A. What is Virtue Ethics ( 德性倫理
學 )?
Here comes the same questio
n again
A short quiz:
- What would the Consequentialists sa
y?
 Here comes the same
question again
A short quiz:
 Here comes the same
question again
A short quiz:
Answer: Can be right and wrong. It depends.
 Here comes the same
question again
A short quiz:
- What would the Deontologists say?
 Here comes the same
A. Kant’s Deontology
question again
A short quiz:
- What would the Deontologists say?
 Here comes the same
question again
So….
- What would the Virtue Ethicists say?
 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• A comparison of different ethical theori
es on lying:
Utilitarianism
Virtue ethics: If we consider : depending
honesty to be a good trait( 特質 ), on the
then we ought to try to become
honest persons. So, we should not
consequence
lie.

Deontology:
lying is
always
wrong.
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 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• A comparison of different ethical theorie
s on helping a person in need

Virtue ethic: helping the Utilitarianism: the

person will be the consequences of doing
so will maximize
realization of the trait of
happiness/well-being.
benevolence

Deontology: in doing so the

agent will be acting in
accordance with a moral rule
such as “Do unto others as
you would be done by”
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 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• General Principle of Virtue Ethics
- “What kind of person would I be if I do it
or if I don’t?”

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Some very basics of Virtue Ethics

• An alternative to the consequentialism-deon

tology debate
• Morality = striving to be a good person
• An ethical theory about human character
Some very basics of Virtue Ethics
• An example: Helping others

we have a duty to
help others helping others
displays
desirable
virtues such as
being charitable
or benevolent
Some very basics of Virtue Ethics

• Examples of Virtues
Some very basics of Virtue Ethics
• Vices
Some very basics of Virtue Ethics
• Vices
Some very basics of Virtue Ethics
• Examples of Vices
 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• Virtue ethics is a very different approach to et
hics from utilitarianism and deontology.
• Utilitarianism and deontology attempt to deal
with the question of
“What should I do?”
• Utilitarianism
– do the act with the greatest happiness for the greatest number o
f people.
• Deontology
– do the act which is our duty (universal for all).
• Utilitarianism and deontology are rule-bound ethics.
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 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• Virtue ethics attempts to deal with the q
uestion of
“What should I be?’’
• What virtue ethics concerns is “how to be a goo
d person”, but not the moral rule.
– “What should I do?” is a minor question.
• Even though a notorious person may behave m
orally in an act, overall he/she is still not a good
person.
– That a man is morally good or not depends on his o
verall performance instead of individual acts.

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 Introduction to Virtue Ethics
• For virtue ethics, moral life is
– about developing good characters,
– about determining what are the ideals for hu
man life and about trying to embody these id
eals in life.
• i.e. moral rules (if any) are derived from actualizi
ng the ideals and characters, but not vice versa.

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B. How is Virtue Ethics compared to
Consequentialism & Deontology?
Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

a. high level of abstraction from reality

b. narrow in their application
c. overly academic
d. inhuman
e. involve prescriptive approaches
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 Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

a. They involve a high level of abstraction from reality:

the real world is complex and

such a ‘principled’ approach
to resolving day-to-day
dilemmas about behaviour is
unhelpful and ignores the
real-world context of
decision-makers.
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Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

• b. They may be narrow in their application

Consequentialism &
Deontology :
the focus on one particular
aspect of ethics, such as rights
or duties, reduces the
complexity of ethical issues to
one narrow parameter of
reality when all are important

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Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

• C. overly academic
- the abstraction and
narrowness are a reflection of
theoreticians who live in the
‘ivory-tower’, academic
environment
- Is the ‘wisdom’ of such
specialists really that great
when it comes to what is right
and wrong?

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Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

• d. inhuman

decision-making
becomes ‘formulaic’
and human relations,
instincts, and
emotions are absent

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Problems with Consequentialism & Deontology

• e. involve prescriptive approaches:

Consequentialism & Deontology

suggest that ethical dilemmas can
be solved by living by a given set of
rules…
… whereas true decision-making
requires a high involvement of
individuals and ‘ownership’
through using their own discretion
and judgement
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 Instead, Virtue ethics…

Encourages us to think about

moral heroes and saints:
E.g.,, Mother Teresa, Gandhi,
Martin Luther King
And consider what in their
personalities that made them
virtuous.

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 Instead, Virtue ethics…

Virtue ethicists don’t ignore

actions, but regard them as
outgrowths of a person’s
character.

The notion of character is

the morally more
important concept.
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 Instead, Virtue ethics…

• We praise
courageous acts,
• but courage is
not really a
feature of the
act on its own,
• but of the
person doing it.
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C. What then is Virtue?
 What is Virtue?
• According to Aristotle, there are 5 thing
s we can talk about what a virtue is

1. A virtue is a 2. A virtue is not

character trait that
contributes to a person
just a feeling.
functioning well A person who
as a human being. “feels” brave but
(Examples include does not act on it is
bravery, generosity,
friendliness, etc.) not brave.
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 What is Virtue?
• According to Aristotle, there are 5 thing
s we can talk about what a virtue is

3. A virtue is not just 4. A virtue is not just

a natural inclination. doing a given action
A person who is just on a given occasion.
born a certain way is A person who does
not virtuous in something brave or
virtue of being born generous once is not a
that way. brave or generous
person. 34
 What is Virtue?
• According to Aristotle, there are 5 thing
s we can talk about what a virtue is

5. Aristotle concludes a virtue is a learned

disposition to reason and act in a certain way.
a) A disposition is a tendency, a characteristic that
regularly brings one to reason and act in a certain
way.
b) A friendly person is a person who tends to act in
a friendly manner on a regular basis.

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 What is Virtue?
• Aristotle categorizes virtues into two types:
Intellectual virtues Moral virtues
- Excellences of mind, - The tendencies to act
- such as the ability to well.
understand and reason and - Including courage,
judge well. temperance, justice,
- These can be learned from pride, magnanimity( 寬
teachers. 大 ), etc.

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 What is Virtue?
•These can be learned not •In other words, moral
by being taught but by rep virtues are something that
etition. are practiced—it is a
–e.g. By practicing courage, we habit.
become more courageous.
–Note: a man possessing
–The same thing applies to intellectual virtues does not
vice. imply that he also possesses
– The person who lies and lies
again finds that lying is easie
moral virtues.
r and telling the truth more
difficult.

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 What is Virtue?

• Practice can make people virtuous

 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
• Another way to understand Virtue is to u
nderstand it as THE GOLDEN MEAN

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
• Aristotle further suggests, a virtue actually involves f
inding the proper balance between two extremes.
• In short, virtues can be understood as a mean or mid
dle between extremes.

Excess: Deficiency:
having too much having too little of
of something something
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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
e.g.1 Courage
• Courage is the strength of character necessar
y to continue in the face of our fears.
• Without courage, we are unable to take the risks
necessary to achieve some of the things we most
value in life.
– Risk asking someone out on a date.
– Risk trying an academically challenging program, etc
.

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
• a) Deficiency of courage:
Cowardice
– Having too much fear to do what is necess
ary to have those things in life which we n
eed in order to flourish( 達致幸福 ).
– The deficiency of courage will lead to
• too much fear
• too little confidence

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
• b) Excess of courage
Foolhardiness
• Having no fear to do what is necessary to have
those things in life which we need in order to fl
ourish.
– The excess of courage will lead to
• too much confidence
• poor judgment about ends worth achieving

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
• Courage is having just
the right amount of fe
ar, depending on what
is appropriate for us a
s individuals and for t
he circumstances we f
ace.
• If we have courage, th
en we have a virtue.
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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean
Courage and other virtues
• To have any single strength of ch
aracter in full measure, a person
must have the other virtues as w
ell.
– Courage without perseverance is
short-lived.
– Courage without wisdom is fooli
sh.
– Courage without good judgment
is blind, etc.
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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean

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 What is Virtue?
The golden mean

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D. How virtue ethics is applied?
 How virtue ethics is applied?

• Case
• Siu Ming is a CIHE year two
nursing student.
• He has to sit for four take-ho
me exams (including Ethics)
within a week.
• He knows that he does not h
ave sufficient time to accomp
lish the tasks in such a rush.

50
How virtue ethics is applied?
• Case
• One of his friends tells
him that someone will
help him finish the App
lied Ethics take-home e
xam if he pays the pers
on HK$1000.
• Siu Ming is pondering
on whether he should c
heat in the exam.
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 How virtue ethics is applied?

• How will utilitarianism and deontology resp

ond to the case?
• For virtue ethics, Siu Ming should ask:
“What kind of person would I be if I do not
cheat? Or if I cheat?”
– Siu Ming’s answer to the question has nothing to
do with calculations of utility, obeying universal
moral rules, etc.

52
 How virtue ethics is applied?
• Siu Ming’s problem concerns the kind of pers
on he is.
– If Siu Ming wants to be an honest person, then he
ought not to cheat.
• Or if he has the virtue of honesty, he ought not to c
heat.

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 How virtue ethics is applied?
• For virtue ethics, there is
not a rule for Siu Ming t
o make the decision. He
has to decide what kind
of a person he wants to b
e.
– Of course, if he is a virtuo
us person, we can predict
his decision.
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E. The criticism of Virtue Ethics
 Criticism of virtue ethics
Weaknesses of virtue ethics
• A) Conflicts of traits:
– In some cases, there can be conflicts of traits.

Consider the Mencius’ ( 孟子 )

case:

- To be a ruler, the ruler should

have the virtue of justice. So to
punish those who commit crime is
just.
- But to be a son, he should have 56
 Criticism of virtue ethics
– If the ruler’s father commits crime, he h
as to choose whether to possess the virtu
e justice or filial piety.
• He cannot possess both at the same time.
• He is in a dilemma.

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 Criticism of virtue ethics
– The resolution of the dilemma partly depe
nds on how we rank the virtues of justice
and filial piety.
– Which one is higher or more worthwhile?

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 Criticism of virtue ethics
• B) There seems to be no universal traits.
– Virtues depend at least partly on the practices
that constitute a culture or society.
• e.g. A warlike society will value heroic virtues, whil
e a peaceful and prosperous society might think of
generosity as a particularly important virtue.

May highly likely lead

to ethical relativism?
59
 Criticism of virtue ethics
• Yet, MacIntyre (born 1929) arg
ues that justice, courage, a
nd honesty are universal tr
aits.

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 Criticism of virtue ethics
• The lack of them will make the cooperation
between human beings insecure/impossible.

If no courage, then no sacrifice for

others and societies, which will
destabilize the societies.

If no justice, then the relationship

between teachers and students, say, will
collapse (due to unfair grading).

If no honesty, then no trust among us.

61
 Criticism of virtue ethics
• C) Virtue ethics does not provide universal r
ules or guidances.

This makes it unable to provide

action-guidance.
It is argued that the rule amounts to a
decision guidance for determining
what the right action was in any
particular case.
But all that virtue ethics could offer is:
“What should I be?’’
“Identify a moral exemplar and do what
he would do”. 62
 Criticism of virtue ethics
– Yet, virtue ethics theorists argue that if a man kno
ws what he wants to be, he should know how to do.
• e.g. If I want to be an honest person, I will not cheat in a
n exam.

63
 Criticism of virtue ethics
• D) Virtue ethics is too optimistic.
– The primary goal of virtue ethics is to be a g
ood person.
– One problem that it may face is what to say
about those of us who do not want to be goo
d persons.

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Summary
 Other viewable clips
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRGIjZv
oNp4

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpE6qllLh
eU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Lm0LuX
J68