VIRTUE ETHICS

ARISTOTLE’S THEORY OF VIRTUE ETHICS



Virtue ethics is an approach to ethics that emphasizes the character of the moral agent, rather than rules or consequences, as the key element of ethical thinking. This contrasts with consequentialism, which holds that the consequences of a particular act form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action, and deontology, which derives rightness or wrongness form the character of the act itself rather than the outcomes. The difference between these three approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are approached than n the moral conclusions reached. Virtue theory is not actually in conflict with deontology or teleology: those two viewpoints deal with which actions a person should take in any given scenario, whereas virtue theorists simply argue that developing morally desirable virtues for their own sake will help aid moral actions when such decisions need to be made.

The central questions of virtue ethics

Unlike utilitarianism and Kant, whose central question is ‘What ought I to do in these circumstances?’ the central questions of virtue ethics are:
‘What is the good life for me as a human being?’
‘What kind of person should I want to become?’
‘How do I achieve both of these goals?’
The answer to all three questions involves the virtues. The good life is a virtuous life. You should try to become a virtuous person, and the how of achieving these goals is via the virtues. The virtues are the means and the end. Only when you’ve got the virtues can you be relied on to do the right thing as the natural outcome of a good character. None of this will be of much help unless we know what the virtues are and how to get them. This is where Aristotle comes in.

Aristotle’s theory

Aristotle begins his explanation and justification of the virtues and the good life by pointing out that all things in the universe have a purpose. They aim at some end, which is built in to their nature. For example, the purpose of the sun is to give light and heat to the earth; the rain’s job is to water the ground so plants can grow. The plants’ job is to feed the animals, and the lower animals are food for the higher animals, and so on. This focuses on how different specie of things is interrelated in what we now cal ecosystems, or what ‘the Lion King’s calls the circle of life. But, in addition, each species has a telos internal to and peculiar to itself. For example, the purpose or goal of an acorn is to grow into an oak tree, of a kitten into a cat, lambs into sheep, bulbs into tulips, and so on.
But if all things in the universe have a telos, then so must human beings. Aristotle uses a further argument to prove this, namely, the function argument, which has three strands. Firstly, people make things to have functions or jobs, e.g. a knife’s function is to cut’ a wheel’s function is to roll. So the cause of these functioning things must also have a function, and that means us.
Secondly, people are part of society and they have functions within it – e.g. plumbers, farmer, bakers- so society itself must have a function, since it’s made up of functioning parts – us.
Thirdly, people’s bodies are made up of parts that have functions. For example, the function of the eye is to see, and the ear to hear. This must mean that the whole human being must have an overall function, since it’s composed of bits that have functions.
Aristotle concludes that there’s a meaning, or purpose, to human life, which it is in our nature to aim for. Human nature has a function; it is for something. The big question is, ‘What?”
An initial and partial answer is that all things, and therefore we too, aim for the Good. Our purpose is our essence; it’s the realization of our natural potential. The same goes for everything else, only their ends will differ according to their natures. Nothing well made seeks its own destruction, but rather targets its good. What makes a good tiger is not what makes a good apple, but each is good relative to its nature. So, realizing our potential is good for us, given our nature. But although a thing’s end or telos is good for it, it won’t do it any good if its’ no good at achieving this. It must ‘choose’ good or efficient means to achieve its end. The means are as important as the end, for without them you get nowhere. So we need to find out two things: what is our end, and how do we achieve it?
You need good, efficient, excellent means to achieve an excellent end. The Greek word for ‘excellence’ is arête, which is normally translated ‘virtue’. In ancient Greece ‘virtue’ means any kind of excellence. Sharpness is a virtue in knives because it’s part of their purpose to be sharp. Sharpness is one of the characteristics that make a knife good. The virtue needed in a good apple are to be juicy, shiny, round, fresh, and so on. These qualities, these virtues, don’t spring into existence overnight, just as the apple reaches its maturity, but are instead gradually refined; they’re there all along and indeed are part of the means as well as being the end products. So virtues are excellent features, or characteristics, that a make a thing good.
To find out what the human virtues are, we need to know two things. Firstly, what is the good life for human beings? Secondly what are the most excellent character traits for achieving the goal of the good life? There are two clues to finding out the answer to the first question. Firstly, find out what is distinctive of human nature as opposed to any other kind of thing or animal – something belonging only to us. Secondly, ask people what they ultimately want from life.
For Aristotle, what is distinctive of human nature is reason. Aristotle’s answer to the second clue is that what people ultimately want from life is to be happy.
The virtues are the only things worth pursuing for their own sake, for they constitute the deepest happiness and true honour. True happiness is not the same thing as having pleasurable states of mind, but is instead the process of flourishing, of one’s nature flowering. It is the joy of being what you’re meant to be, of doing what you’re meant to do, and doing it well- of being a good specimen of your species. It is fulfilling your ‘destiny’. The virtuous life is our telos. Aristotle’s word for the true happiness of a fulfilled and flourishing life is eudaimonia.
Aristotle’s view of the virtue is that it is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the man relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Too much or too little of anything is bad for you. This is a truth of reason. So the right amount is somewhere in between the two extremes. This is Aristotle’s famous doctrine of the mean, also known as ‘the golden mean’ or ‘the happy medium’. This is where the virtues lie – on the mean between the extremes of emotion and character. On each extreme lies a vice: if too much, it’s a vice of excess; if too little, it’s a vice deficiency. For example, courage is the mean between cowardice and rashness.

Conclusion
Virtue ethics initially emerged as a rival account to deontology and consequentialism. It developed from dissatisfaction with the notions of duty and obligation and their central roles in understanding morality. It also grew out of an objection to the use of rigid moral rules and principles and their application to diverse and different moral situations. Characteristically, virtue ethics makes a claim about the central role of virtue and character in its understanding of moral life and uses it to answer the questions “how should I live?” what kind of person should I be?”


References:
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. tran. Ross David. Oxford: Oxford University press, 1925.
Benn, Piers, Ethics. London: UCL Press, 1998, ch. 7.
Stewart, Noel. Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. USA: Polity Press, 2009.