Aristotle and Virtue Ethics

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Aristotle and Virtue Ethics
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• Everything aims at some endhas some purpose
• Ethics requires that we discover what the purpose
  or end of human life is.

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• There are lots of things that people pursue, but
  most of these are pursued for the sake of
  something else.
• We need to discover the ultimate goal or end of
  human life.
• Ethics then will tell us how best to achieve this
  ultimate end.

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• Everyone admits what the goal is Happiness.
  Happiness is pursued for its own sake, not just
  for the sake of something else
• But what is happiness?
• Some say its honor,others pleasure, others money

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Why pleasure is not happiness

• Whatever the human good is, it should capture
  what is distinctive about human beings
• But pleasure is shared with other animals
• Therefore, pleasure is not the human good (it is
  too brutish)

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Honor is not happiness

• Honor is dependent on what others think of us. It
  is thus too superficial.
• People pursue honors to reassure themselves that
  they are goodso honor is not pursued for its own
  sake.
• Wealth also is not happiness for the same
  reasonwe pursue wealth for the sake of something
  else

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Do human beings have a function?

• Aristotle argues by analogy We allow that
  professions have functions (coblers, blacksmiths
  etc) and also that parts of the human body have a
  function (eyes, heart, ears etc)
• So if human beings are like these things, we
  should assume that human beings also have a
  function

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What is our function?

• The function of a human being should be something
  particular to human beings.
• It cannot be just life, because all other living
  things have that. It cannot be sensation, because
  that it shared by animals
• It must be reason, because the ability to reason
  distinguishes human beings from other things.

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Two senses of rationality

• (1) rationality is a state or disposition.
• Rationality as an activity
• Activities are superior to the power to engage in
  them
• One can perform their rational function well, or
  not so so well.
• To perform something well is to be virtuous

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• Therefore, Happiness is an activity of the soul
  in accord with the souls proper excellence or
  virtue.
• But we need to include other things. You cannot
  be happy while being poor, or if you suffer
  greatly in life.
• But Aristotle insists the virtuous person will be
  best able to deal with adversity.

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Two kinds of virtue

• Intellectual virtue the virtue of knowledge or
  understandig
• Practical virtue the virtue of action and
  feeling.
• Intellectual virtue is had by the philosopher,
  who lives a life of contemplation

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Practical virtue

• Virtues are not innate. They are habits
• To become courageous, one must act as a
  courageous person doesthis will help one develop
  the habit of being courageous

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Virtue is a mean

• It is the extremes that damage people. A person
  who eats too much or eats to little will not be
  healthy.
• Similiarly for the soul, a person who acts in an
  extreme manner will not be virtuous

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Examples

• Courage is the mean between recklessness and
  cowardice
• Self-control is the mean between self-indulgence
  and being insensible
• Generosity is the mean between extravagance and
  stinginess
• Wittiness is the mean between bufoonery and
  boorishnes. (see table p. 48)

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The mean is relative to us

• The mean is not the same for everyone.
• Some people get drunk on two beers, for others
  two beers would be the mean
• For some people going into a burning building
  would be reckless, for others it would be
  courageous.
• The mean is the appropriate way of acting given
  our individual nature and situation