Short Analysis about Virtue Ethics

End purpose of lifeHuman flourishing and happinessCultivated through virtue

"Happiness is an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue."

Moral, intellectual and physical excellenceAristotle distinguishes the first two

Cultivate virtues by balancing between vice of excess and vice of deficiency

"Hence it is no easy task to be good.

For in everything it is no easy task to find the middle."

Courage is the facing of fears and risks for the sake of an ideal

Naturally lives in the mean

Tempted but overcomes to live in the mean

Weak willed and cannot live in the mean

TemperanceCourageJusticeWisdom (underpins all others)

Expansion by AquinasPride (a virtue under Aristotle)SlothGreedLustWrathGluttonyEnvy

Presented a shield listing four Roman qualities - similar to Aristotle (Justice, Clemency, Pietas and Virtue)

Historical notions not tenable; morality is contextual - human needs and desires should not be ignored.

Conflict between philosophies results in moral confusionVirtues sustain rational society; they allow for appreciation of values in that society looking forward and backwards through time.Internal and External goods - direct and secondary goods

Abandonment of principle based ethics (rule and consequence)

"Virtue is not like a skill or an art ...

it must actually engage the will"

Wisdom is both moral and intellectual. Pride is rejected as a virtue.Moral hero and moral saint: intentions!Virtues are corrective (humans are wood which warp)Skills=/=Virtues

Different meaning in different cultures - for Aristotle it was knowing your capabilities and being "proud" of that fact. Lost in translation...

Functionalist account of virtues.There are core virtues necessary for any flourishing of society and individual.But there are multiple good ways for a society to develop?

Moral judgements are expressions of personal preferenceNo one individual opinion is more valuable than anotherNo binding moral guidance