VIRTUES

ETHICS
Presented By : Group 1

Catanduanes State University | 2024

 OVERVIEW
• Introduction of Virtue Ethics
a) What is Virtue Ethics
b) Importance of Ethics

• Aristotle Ethical Thinking

a) Who is Aristotle
b) Concept of Aristotle’s view of Virtue Ethics
 OVERVIEW

• Aristotle Concept of the Golden Mean

• St. Thomas Aquinas Natural Law of Ethics

a) Who is St. Thomas Aquinas
b) Concept of St. Thomas Aquinas view of Virtue Ethics
Introduction

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“Virtues” are the good qualities of humankind.
They constitute the good inner character of a
person.

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 Good Habits Stable Habits

“Virtues”
Shapes our Character
Guide us to do good

Lead us to better life

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Examples of
Virtue
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Honesty

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Compassion
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Fairness

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Temperance

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Responsibility

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Prudence
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Courage

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Virtue is a good human quality, so it is a kind of
value.

Virtue is a unique form of value because it is

limited to the quality of human character and
does not even include the individual human acts.

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 What is
Virtue Ethics?
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 virtue ethics
- The determiner of morality

- A philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient

Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of
moral character

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 virtue ethics

Virtue theorists believe that actions are

manifestation of inner qualities.

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 Importance of
Virtue Ethics
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Virtue ethics encourages people to be patient,
compassionate, and humble with others. This can
contribute to the well-being of others, even if it requires
sacrifice.

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Virtue ethics helps people make decisions based on the
qualities they want to develop in themselves.

Virtue ethics is concerned with a person's character

and behavior throughout their life, rather than just
specific actions.

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Virtue ethics encourages people to develop habits of
mind and character that help them make good
decisions.

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Virtue ethics can remind people of the importance of
role models. People can learn ethics by observing and
imitating the behavior of ethical people.

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 who is
Aristotle?

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 Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient Greek
philosophy, who made important contributions to logic,
criticism, rhetoric, physics, biology, psychology,
mathematics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics. He was
a student of Plato for twenty years but is famous for
rejecting Plato’s theory of forms. He was more
empirically minded than Plato and Plato’s teacher,
Socrates. As the father of western logic, Aristotle was
the first to develop a formal system for reasoning.

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 ARISTOTLE’S
Ethical Thinking

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Virtue ethics is the name given to a modern revival and
revision of Aristotle's ethical thinking. Aristotle’s ethics,
while not generally thought of as consequentialist, is
certainly teleological.

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For him, the telos, or purpose, of a human life is to live
according to reason. This leads to ‘happiness’ in the
sense of human flourishing. This flourishing is
achieved by the habitual practice of moral and
intellectual excellences, or ‘virtues’.

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 One attains happiness by a virtuous life and the
development of reason and the faculty of
theoretical wisdom. For this one requires
sufficient external goods to ensure health, leisure,
and the opportunity for virtuous action

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Moral virtue is a relative mean between extremes
of excess and deficiency, and in general the
moral life is one of moderation in all things except
virtue. No human appetite or desire is bad if it is
controlled by reason according to a moral
principle. Moral virtue is acquired by a
combination of knowledge, habituation, and self-
discipline.

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Virtuous acts require conscious choice and moral
purpose or motivation. Man has personal moral
responsibility for his actions.

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 Moral virtue cannot be achieved abstractly — it
requires moral action in a social environment.
Ethics and politics are closely related, for politics
is the science of creating a society in which men
can live the good life and develop their full
potential.

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 Aristotle’s
GOLDEN MEAN

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Aristotle’s ethics was centered around the pursuit of eudaimonia, meaning
happiness or flourishing — and he believed we could achieve eudaimonia by
using reason excellently in everything we do.

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Aristotle defined the Golden Mean as the middle ground between the
extremes of too much of a trait (an excess) and too little (a deficit). He argues
that every virtue lies between these two ends. For example, the Golden Mean
for the virtue of courage lies between recklessness (an excess of courage)
and cowardice (a deficiency of courage). Similarly, the virtue of generosity is
the middle ground between wastefulness and stinginess.

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An important facet of the Golden Mean is that it is relative to the individual and
situation. The mean in one situation for someone might not be the same for
another, or vice versa. This relativity underscores the importance of using
wisdom to discern the appropriate mean in varying contexts.

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Practical Wisdom is Key to Finding the Golden Mean

According to Aristotle, practical wisdom is the key to consistently applying the

Golden Mean. It involves knowing the right thing to do and using this knowledge
in various situations. Aristotle believed that developing practical wisdom
requires experience and reflection. It grows with time and practice, enabling
individuals to consistently make balanced and virtuous choices. Without
practical wisdom, individuals could overshoot or undershoot the middle ground
without knowing, or they might apply the same middle ground to all contexts,
even though circumstances dictate different responses.
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Aristotle’s Theory Promotes Virtuous Living, But It Has Its Challenges

The Golden Mean promotes a balanced, harmonious, and virtuous life by

avoiding extremes. This balance has benefits that extend beyond individual
behavior and into societal norms and ethical standards. Moreover, the Golden
Mean fosters personal growth and self-improvement: By continually striving for
moderation, people develop virtues that contribute to their well-being and that of
those around them.

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However, the Golden Mean has its challenges. Critics argue that the theory’s
relativism makes it difficult to apply it consistently. Additionally, some situations
may not have a clear mean, making it hard to determine the virtuous path. On
the other hand, proponents of Aristotle argue that these challenges are part of
the depth and complexity of Aristotle’s theory, making it a valuable guide for
ethical living that should still be used today.

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 who is
St. Thomas Aquinas?

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He was a Catholic Priest in the Dominican Order and
one of the most important medieval philosophers and
theologians

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He was immensely influenced by scholasticism and
Aristotle and known for his synthesis of the two
aforementioned traditions.

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Although he wrote many works of philosophy and
theology throughout his life, his two monumental works
are Summa Theological and Summa Contra Gentiles.
But his most influential work is the Summa Theological
that extensively discusses man which consists of three
parts: God, Ethics and Christ

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St. Thomas’ natural law ethics is based on the
Aristotelian principle that everything in the world, is
organized in a teleological fashion, i.e., everything has
a goal or purpose.

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 St. Thomas
Natural Law of
Ethics
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 “…all acts of virtue are prescribed by the natural law: since
each one’s reason naturally dictates to him to act virtuously. But
if we speak of virtuous acts, considered in themselves, i.e., in
their proper species, thus not all virtuous acts are prescribed by
the natural law: for many things are done virtuously, to which
nature does not incline at first; but which, through the inquiry of
reason, have been found by men to be conductive to well
living.”

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 For St. Thomas Aquinas, the goal of human existence is
union and eternal fellowship with God. o For those who
have experienced salvation and redemption through Christ
while living on earth, a beatific vision will be granted after
death in which a person experiences perfect, unending
happiness through comprehending the very essence of
God.

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 Man is the point of convergence between the corporeal
(means things pertaining to the human body) and spiritual
substances.

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Man is substantially body and soul. And definitely, only the
soul is the substance while the body is actual

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 During life, an individual's will must be ordered toward right
things (such as charity, peace and holiness), which requires
morality in everyday human choices, a kind of Virtue Ethics.

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 Thomas believed "that for the knowledge of any truth
whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be
moved by God to its act. “According to St. Aquinas

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 St. Thomas
Four Kinds of Law

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Eternal law is the decree of God that governs all creation. It
is, "That Law which is the Supreme Reason cannot be
understood to be otherwise than unchangeable and
eternal."

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 Natural law is the human "participation" in the eternal law
and is discovered by reason. Natural law is based on "first
principles": . . . this is the first precept of the law that good is
to be done and promoted, and evil is to be avoided. All other
precepts of the natural law are based on this.

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Human law (the natural law applied by governments to
societies)

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Divine law (the specially revealed law in the scriptures)

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