Virtue Theory
PHI 251
Introduction to Ethics
Virtue & Vice
• Virtue – trained behavioral disposition that
results in habitual acts of moral goodness.
• Vice – trained behavioral disposition that
results in habitual acts of moral
wrongness.
• Virtue theory, or virtue ethics, is based on
this notion that morality involves producing
excellent persons, who act well out of
spontaneous goodness and serve as
examples to inspire others.
• Virtue theory is teleological in that the
goal is living well and achieving
excellence.
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Virtues
• Moral virtues – honesty, benevolence,
nonmalevolence, fairness, kindness,
conscientiousness, gratitude.
• Nonmoral virtues – courage, optimism,
rationality, self-control, patience,
endurance, industriousness, musical
talent, cleanliness, and wit.
For virtue ethics, discovering and imitating
the proper moral example thus replaces
meticulous reasoning as the most
significant aspect of the moral life. (p. 148)
According to Aristotle, the moral virtues
are different from the intellectual ones.
Intellectual virtues are taught directly, the
moral ones must be lived to be learned
and are to be sought as the best
guarantee to the happy life. But again,
happiness requires that we be lucky
enough to live in a flourishing state.
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Golden Mean
Aristotle means that the virtues are at a
middle ground between excess and
deficiency.
Action-Based Ethics
• Lack an inspirational component – fail to motivate or inspire action.
• Founded on an obsolete theological-legal model – “morality was
made for man, not man for morality”
• Ignore the spontaneous dimension of ethics – Action-based reduces
all moral assessment to judgments about actions. Ignores the
spontaneous that emerges as a result of ingrained virtues.
• Are minimalist and neglect the development of character – similar to
previous complaint, action-based calls us to cohere to a core of
necessary rules for society to function and lacks focus on character
development.
• Over-emphasize autonomy and neglect community – Alasdair
MacIntyre argues that rule-governed ethics is a symptom of the
Enlightenment which exaggerated the principle of autonomy, the
ability to arrive at a moral code by reason alone.
Criticisms of Action-based Theories
Hobbes (social contract theory) – the main
job of moral philosophy is to teach people
the virtues, because those will enable us
to spontaneously follow specific rules
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Criticisms continued…
Virtue-based theory
1) we should acquire good character traits,
not simply act according to moral rules
2) morality involves being a virtuous person
Criticisms continued…
Action-based theory
1) we should act properly by following
moral rules
2) we judge people based on how they
act, not on whether they are virtuous
people
Developing Character
• Crucial moral question for virtue theory is
“What sort of person should I become?”
• Crucial moral question for action-based
theory is “What should I do?”
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Connections between
Virtue-based ethics and
Action-based ethics
Pure virtue-based ethics. The virtues are
dominant and have intrinsic value. Moral
rules and duties are derived from the
virtues. For example, if we claim that we
have a duty to be just or beneficent, we
must discover the virtues of fairness and
benevolence in the good person
The standard action-based view. Action-
guiding principles are the essence of
morality. The virtues are derived from the
principles and are instrumental in performing
right actions. For each virtue there is a
corresponding principle that is the important
aspect of the relationship.
• The action-nature of the rules thesis
• The reductionist thesis
• The instrumental value thesis
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Complementarity (pluralistic) ethics. Both
action-based and virtue-based models are
necessary for an adequate or complete
system. Neither the virtues nor rules are
primary; they complement each other, and
both may have intrinsic value
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