Ethics—The Basics

by John Mizzoni

CHAPTER TWO:
VIRTUE ETHICS
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VIRTUE ETHICS
• Road rage—What causes it?
• Differences between
feelings/emotions and
behavior/actions.
• Virtue Ethics (sometimes called
Character Ethics) relates our
feelings to our behavior…
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Virtue ethics is an ethical tradition
that focuses on:
• How emotions relate to actions
• How human beings are able to
control their emotions
• How human beings are able to gain
happiness for themselves
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Before Socrates, the earliest
known Greek moral philosopher,
there
was
virtue
ethics.
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• Important Pre-Socratics—Pythagoras, Democritus,
Heraclitus, Anaxagoras
• Important Sophists—Protagoras, Thrasymachus,
Callicles, Hippias

• The 3 most well-known Greek philosophers

agreed that answers to questions about ethics
depend on answers to questions about human
nature:
• Socrates—founder of ethical studies
• Plato—author of many ethical dialogues
• Aristotle—author of Nicomachean Ethics
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Virtue ethics has continued
from the ancient world to our own:
• School and Community Programs
—The Boy Scout Law
—Character Counts!
—The Virtues Project
• Church-sponsored Programs
—School of Virtue (Kids for Jesus)
• Employment Programs
—The Josephson Institute
• Popular Culture
—Adventures from the Book of Virtues
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Virtue ethics addresses all four of
the ethical problems we are
considering. However:
• WHAT IS A VIRTUE?
• WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF
VIRTUES?
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Examples of Virtues include:

Tolerance Loyalty
Generosity Prudence
Integrity Justice
Honesty Temperance
Kindness Responsibility
Courage/Fortitude Respectfulness
Wisdom Continency/Self-control
Cleverness Chastity
Courtesy Compassion/Caring
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• A virtue is a trait of character of a
person that is good for that person to
have. (Aristotle, 337 BCE)
• A moral virtue is a mean between two
extremes. (Aristotle, 337 BCE)
• This is Aristotle’s Principle of The
Golden Mean
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The Principle of
The Golden Mean
A moral virtue is a
mean between two
extreme vices— (the
vice of excess and the
vice of deficiency).
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For example, courage is the mean

between cowardice (deficiency)
and rashness (excess).
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Aristotle was not alone in this idea:
• In ancient China, Confucius called
one of his important teachings
“The Doctrine of the Mean”
• In ancient India, the Buddha
called his philosophy of life
“The Middle Way”
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• Moral excellence—a moral virtue—
consists in a mean state.
• “By virtue I mean virtue of character…
it is concerned with feelings and
actions….” (Aristotle, 337 BCE)
• “Virtue, then, is a mean, in so far as it
aims at what is intermediate.”
(Aristotle, 337 BCE)
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According to Aristotle, two things
are important in achieving
happiness (eudaemonia) in our
lives:
• how we handle our feelings
• the rational judgment we use
in developing our virtues
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In Aristotle’s thinking, every
human being has a rational soul:
• The rational soul (reason) can
help us to control our feelings.
• If feelings are well-controlled,
virtues develop; if they are not
well-controlled, vices develop.
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For example, temperance is a mean
that focuses on our desires:
• If we let our desires control us, we are
intemperate
• If we deny our desires entirely, we
repress our humanity
• Controlling our desires to the correct
degree leads to excellence
QUESTIONS?
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The Golden Mean is Not Mathematical
• It is like hitting the bulls-eye in archery
The Golden Mean is Not Precise
• It is a mean that is relative to us, perhaps even to each
of us
• Like hitting the sweet spot on a baseball bat
For Aristotle, ethics is not a precise
science, it is about living the good life.
WHAT IS THE “GOOD LIFE”?
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The “Good Life” is a life that leads to
eudaemonia:
• happiness
• flourishing
• excellence
• well-being
• self-realization (Abraham Maslow)
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“Human Nature” for Aristotle:
• Humans are rational animals
• Humans are unique animals because of their
reason
• Humans are social/political animals
• Humans flourish in groups
• Humans have social origins
• Humans succeed in social pursuits
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A “moral virtue”, for Aristotle, is a
trait of character:
• A trait that is not “natural” to us
• A trait that develops through habit
—A habit is a repeated action
—“Practice makes perfect”

Potential → Repeated actions → Habit formation → Character

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Thus, Aristotle’s model of human nature is a
developmental model:
• Humans are born with rational minds (potential)
—Human develop awareness of self
—Humans develop awareness of choice
• There is a time in our lives to “train” ourselves
(input phase)
• There is a time in our lives when our character
flows easily in action (output phase)

Potential → Repeated actions → Habit formation → Character

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Old Testament Scripture supports this

developmental model:
“Train up a child in the way he should
go[input], and when he is old he will not
depart from it[output]” (Proverbs 22:5).

Potential → Repeated actions → Habit formation → Character

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In Aristotle’s development model, the
idea of a role model is very important:
• One of the natural ways we learn is by copying
others
• Some role models of virtuous lives:
—Jesus (WWJD = What Would Jesus Do?)
—Saints (Francis of Assisi, Maria Goretti, Dominic Savio)
—Others (Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr.)
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• Virtues are good for the
individual who practices them
• Virtues are good for those who
have social contact with the
virtuous person
Many of the virtues have to do
with our dealings with others
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There are two kinds of virtues:

• Intellectual virtues can be taught.
• Moral virtues can only be learned
through habitual practice.
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• Example of an intellectual virtue:
• Knowledge
• Examples of moral virtues:
• Prudence
• Justice
• Fortitude
• Temperance
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The Instruction of Ptahhotep,
written 4000 years ago, long before
Aristotle, recommends the
following virtues to everyone:
Self-control, moderation, kindness,
generosity, justice, truthfulness, and
discretion
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In New Testament Scripture, Paul’s
letters support virtue ethics:
• Practice virtues (e.g. Galatians 5:22):
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control

• Don’t practice vices (e.g. Galatians 5:19):

Fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension,
party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing

• Follow an exemplary model of character (Galatians

2:20):
“…it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
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Universalist virtue ethics:
• Admits that different cultures
emphasize different virtues

• BUT states that some virtues are

universally important
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Relativist virtue ethics:

• Admits that different cultures

emphasize different virtues

• AND states there are NO universally

important virtues
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• To interpret different inventories of
virtues from different cultures and
times (cultural relativism) as proof
of ethical relativism is to commit the
fallacy of hasty generalization.
• Ethical relativism is an exaggeration
of cultural relativism.
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What, then, is the nature of man?
• According to Aristotle, we are
essentially rational in nature.
• Mizzoni adds that we are also
emotional, social, and political in
nature, and Aristotle notes this.
WHAT ABOUT SPIRITUAL?
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What is the good life, according

to Aristotle?
• Everything in nature has a purpose
• The purpose of man is to exercise his
reason in a life of virtue, or
moderation, to achieve happiness
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• Some scholars view Aristotle’s model

as leading to a life of contemplation
rather than to a life of action.
• Other scholars view this model of
human development as leading to a
life of action (courage and justice),
with a retirement to contemplation.
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Ethics and Literature
The virtues and vices that are
important in developing a literary
character are an essential part of
the plot.
CAN YOU THINK OF ANY VIRTUOUS
LITERARY CHARACTERS…?
…ANY VICIOUS ONES?
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Advantages of Virtue Ethics
• It provides a reasonable account of
moral motivation
• It is flexible
• It focuses on the whole person
• It fits well with common sense
• It accounts for the fact that partiality,
not impartiality, is a part of life
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Disadvantages of Virtue Ethics
• Virtue ethics is anthropocentric
• Virtue ethics is individually focused
• Virtue ethics is incomplete
• Why is one trait better than another?
• How do we resolve moral conflict?
• What about people with disabilities?
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Conclusion: Origins of Virtue Ethics
• Ethical standards come from a
combination of human nature and
society. (Societal standards that contradict
human nature would not lead to human
happiness.)
• Ethical standards do not come from
God or religion
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Conclusion: Relativism v. Universalism
• Cultural relativism may be true, because we
observe ethical diversity among cultures, but
ethical relativism could not be true, because
some virtues are important in any culture.
• Aristotle, then, is a ethical universalist who
accepts cultural relativism
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Conclusion: Human Nature

• Aristotle argues for a universal human nature,
observing that all human beings are striving
after happiness.
• Aristotle observes that human beings are
rational animals (who can control their actions
and feelings, and choose what habits they will
develop), and social/political animals.
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Conclusion: What Makes Something Right or
Wrong?
• Virtue ethics answers such questions as:
—How one should live a life?
—What is a life lived well?
—What kind of person I should become in terms of virtues and universal
human nature?
• A trait is virtuous if it is a product of our developed
natural potential and if it contributes to our
happiness, well-being, and flourishing.
DOES ALL THIS INFORMATION HELP YOU
CHOOSE THE RIGHT THING TO DO?