ETHICS - Involves virtuous life

- Virtues are the goals, not the instrument

VIRTUE ETHICS
for achieving eudaimonia.
Aristotle
Virtue (arete)
- He was born in the Greek colony of
- Arete can be translated to “excellence”
Stagira in Macedonia.
- to do what is honest or generous
- Studied Plato’s Academy
- a “desirable” or “morally valuable”
- Considered to be Plato’s greatest
character trait.
student
- A character trait – a disposition to be
- Nichomachean Ethics is just one of the
behave in certain way.
many books he wrote
- not like a habit which is more specific,
- Considered to be the most important
action oriented, and related to
virtue ethicist
something particular
- considers morality is not merely a matter
- is more “general” in nature
of knowing the good but actually doing
- enables one to make right choices
or practicing the good habitually.
from the point of view of eudaimonia
- We become what we do and not merely
by what we know. Phronesis – an important element of
practical reason
Nichomachean Ethics
- is something that the virtuous morally
- Dedicated to his son
mature adult has that nice children,
- Nichomachus is a guide for living well
including nice adolescents, lack.
- A handbook for those who seek to build
- Both have good intentions, but the child
and cultivate one’s character in the hope
is much more prone to mess things up
of achieving life’s ultimate goal (telos),
because he is ignorant of what he needs
which he says is happiness or
to know in order to do what he intends.
flourishing (eudaimonia)
St. Thomas Aquinas
Key concepts of Aristotelian Virtue
Ethics - was probably the greatest philosopher
and theologian of the last 2000 years.
1. Ergon (function)
- Writing in the University of Paris in the
2. Eudaimonia (flourishing)
13th Century
3. Arete (excellence or virtue)
- he used the philosophy of Aristotle
4. Phronesis (practical or moral
-which had been kept alive in the great
wisdom)
Islamic centers of learning
Ergon (function) - to make sense of Christian morality and
theology.
- “what is the function of human being?” - he claimed, based on Aristotle’s
- “task” “work” argument that all human beings share a
- consists in activity of the rational part of common human nature.
the soul in accordance with virtue - Summa Theologica is his most famous
- soul is analyzed into a connected series work.
of capacities:
 Nutritive Soul – responsible for Law (lex, legis)
growth and reproduction - Is an ordinance of reason, promulgated
 Locomotive Soul – motion for the common god by one who has
 Perceptive Soul – perception charged of a society
- Human beings has a rational soul - “Ignorance of the law excuses no
 Reason – what sets humanity off one." (ignorantia juris non excusat)
from other species.  Etsi Deus non Daretur – an
Eudaimonia (the true happiness) expression that highlights the
validity of the ethical system with
- “value-laden” or without faith in the Creator.
- “the sort of happiness worth seeking or
having” Classification of Laws
- A moralized concept of happiness I. According to their immediate Author
 a. Divine Laws – which come directly
from God. Natural and Eternal law
are Divine laws
b. Human Laws – are enactments of Normative Theory
Church or state.
 Ecclesiastical Laws – laws - The rightness or wrongness of particular
enacted by the Church actions is determined by how those
 Civil Laws – human laws actions further or frustrate the goods.
enacted by the state DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
II. According to their Duration
a. Eternal Law – is God’s plan and Immanuel Kant
providence for the universe - A German philosopher from Konigsberg,
b. Temporal Law – laws which are East
made by man. - Wrote Critique of Pure Reason (1781),
III. According to their Promulgation The Fundamental Principles of/
a. Natural Law Foundations of/ Groundwork for the
- directs creatures to their end in Metaphysics of Morals (1785), Critique
accordance with their nature and so of Practical Reason (1788), and Critique
understood, it coincides with the Eternal of Judgment (1790).
Law. - One of the greatest philosophers of all
- It is the Eternal Law which is time.
apprehended by human reason - New trends that had begun with the
b. Positive Law rationalism (stressing reason) of Rene
- laws enacted by positive act of a Descartes and the empiricism (stressing
legislator, and these fall under the experience) of Francis Bacon.
classification made by a divine and - Inaugurated a new era in the
human. development of philosophical thought.
- Thus, the Ten Commandments are
Divine Positive Laws, and the laws of Kant’s Theory
the Church and State are Human
- Represent Deontological Ethics
Positive Laws.
- A right action consists solely in an action
IV. According as they prescribe an act or
that is ruled and justified by a rule or
forbid it
principle
a. Affirmative Laws
- Bind always, but not every moment I would save the violinist. Because in
- Thus, the law that prohibits to enter in a whatever angle I look on the scope of
crime place binds only on those days of this situation, it only pinpoints one thing
investigations and the requirement of to me: “if there’s a will, there’s a way”. I
this law may be satisfied at any hour at would rather waste 9 months of my life
which the investigation is done. bed ridden, saving another man’s life.
b. Negative Law / Prohibitory Law Than be selfish and save oneself.
- Bind always and at every moment Because for me, the most precious and
- the law “thou shall not kill”, remains valuable thing on earth is life. If I can, I
continuously in force, and must be will.
obeyed at every moment without
exception and in all circumstance. I can justify myself towards the aliens’
V. According to the effect of their leader by suggesting alternatives. It is
violation apparent that not all can eat meat and
a. Moral Laws – violation of which is that not all can not eat meat. It seems
fault or sin that the aliens are similar to “monkey
b. Penal Laws – violation of which see, monkey do”. So, if we change our
renders the violator liable to an ways, maybe they would too. If we can
established penalty but does not lessen or even avoid slaughtering lower
infect him with sin. forms of organisms, the equality of life
c. Mixed Laws – violation of which between life and the aliens would be
involves both fault and penalty. instilled. The situation simply highlights
that change starts from within and
flourishes outwardly.
For me, one situation in life that applies
the utilitarian morality is pursuing
college. I can say that pursuing college
is a choice. My thinking is “if I pursue
college, my knowledge and experience
would expand”.