Virtue Ethics
What is virtue?
● A Virtue is a moral excellence (Greek: arête)
● A character trait or quality valued as being good
● Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective
well-being, and thus good by definition
What is not a virtue?
● The opposite of virtue is vice
● Vices are characteristics or personality traits that do not promote individual well-
being
● These are negative and should be avoided
● You should aim to get rid of them in your life leaving more space for virtuous
actions
How do you work out what a virtue is?
● Virtue ethics can be seen as the ethics of the average
● It decides which is the correct moral virtue by deciding the middle point
between two extremes
● For Aristotle there were 12 moral virtues that are qualities of character such as;
courage, wittiness, temperance and modesty
● These moral virtues lie between two extremes
● You have to use your reason and thought to make the correct choice
The virtues
● He identified 12 moral virtues which are the middle point between two moral
vices
● The vices are in EXCESS or DEFICIENCY of the virtue
EXCESS------------VIRTUE-------------DEFICIENCY
● So courage is one of the virtues.
● DEFICIENCY If I do not have enough I am a coward
● EXCESS – if I am excessively courageous then I may become rash
There are two types of virtues:
1. Moral virtues - qualities of character (e.g. courage, friendliness, temperance).
They can only be developed through habit. There are 12 of these
2. Intellectual virtues - qualities of the mind (e.g. wisdom, judgement, practical
wisdom). These can only be developed through instruction. There are 9 of these
, Aristotle’s intellectual virtues can be split into two categories:
1. Main or primary virtues (there are 5 of these)
2. Secondary virtues (there are 4 of these)
Aristotle called the final purpose for a human Eudaimonia
● This is the greatest good for a human
● To achieve the best life you should aim your life towards this
Eudaimonia roughly translated is
happiness, however the concept is much
more than that.
● A better translation is ‘human flourishing’ – the state a human must be to fully
flourish as an individual
● The person who has achieved eudaimonia will act completely morally, by choice,
and will also want to act morally
● They will choose the right actions but also want those same actions
● Eudaimonia is a state of action rather than inaction
● It cannot be dipped into – you must work hard in order to achieve it
Friendship
● Aristotle describes a friendship of utility as shallow,“easily dissolved” or for the
old. He views them as such because this type of friendship is easily broken and
based on something that is brought to the relationship by the other person.
● A name for this type of friendship
would be an acquaintance and could be described as the relationship between a
person and
What is virtue?
● A Virtue is a moral excellence (Greek: arête)
● A character trait or quality valued as being good
● Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective
well-being, and thus good by definition
What is not a virtue?
● The opposite of virtue is vice
● Vices are characteristics or personality traits that do not promote individual well-
being
● These are negative and should be avoided
● You should aim to get rid of them in your life leaving more space for virtuous
actions
How do you work out what a virtue is?
● Virtue ethics can be seen as the ethics of the average
● It decides which is the correct moral virtue by deciding the middle point
between two extremes
● For Aristotle there were 12 moral virtues that are qualities of character such as;
courage, wittiness, temperance and modesty
● These moral virtues lie between two extremes
● You have to use your reason and thought to make the correct choice
The virtues
● He identified 12 moral virtues which are the middle point between two moral
vices
● The vices are in EXCESS or DEFICIENCY of the virtue
EXCESS------------VIRTUE-------------DEFICIENCY
● So courage is one of the virtues.
● DEFICIENCY If I do not have enough I am a coward
● EXCESS – if I am excessively courageous then I may become rash
There are two types of virtues:
1. Moral virtues - qualities of character (e.g. courage, friendliness, temperance).
They can only be developed through habit. There are 12 of these
2. Intellectual virtues - qualities of the mind (e.g. wisdom, judgement, practical
wisdom). These can only be developed through instruction. There are 9 of these
, Aristotle’s intellectual virtues can be split into two categories:
1. Main or primary virtues (there are 5 of these)
2. Secondary virtues (there are 4 of these)
Aristotle called the final purpose for a human Eudaimonia
● This is the greatest good for a human
● To achieve the best life you should aim your life towards this
Eudaimonia roughly translated is
happiness, however the concept is much
more than that.
● A better translation is ‘human flourishing’ – the state a human must be to fully
flourish as an individual
● The person who has achieved eudaimonia will act completely morally, by choice,
and will also want to act morally
● They will choose the right actions but also want those same actions
● Eudaimonia is a state of action rather than inaction
● It cannot be dipped into – you must work hard in order to achieve it
Friendship
● Aristotle describes a friendship of utility as shallow,“easily dissolved” or for the
old. He views them as such because this type of friendship is easily broken and
based on something that is brought to the relationship by the other person.
● A name for this type of friendship
would be an acquaintance and could be described as the relationship between a
person and
