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LOGOS |
ARISTOTLE’S VIRTUE ETHICS
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Bust of Aristotle (384-322 BC) |
A. Theoretical Approach, Concepts, and Terms
Teleological (goal-oriented, purposeful, directed; cf. telos)
Essentialism (based on a conception of universal human
nature or essence)
Perfectionism: human well-being (eudaimonia) consists
in excelling at things intrinsically worth doing
Agent-based ethics (emphasizes personal character over
individual actions and rules)
Teleology: process
oriented toward a final goal or purpose (e.g., moral perfection, wisdom)
General approach to Ethics:
intellectual
rather than emotional,
philosophical
rather than religious,
moderate
rather than extreme
A.1 Basic Questions
What
is happiness (eudaimonia)?
How does one achieve it?
What
is the highest good (agathos) for human beings
What
kind of life (bios) should I live in order to be a morally virtuous
person?
What
should I aim at as my ultimate goal or aim
What is virtue (aretē)?
A.2 Greek Terms
agathos: good, noble; to agathon: the Good
aretē: functional excellence, goodness of a thing, acquired skill,
power, virtue
eudaimonia: vital well-being, happiness, human flourishing, fulfillment
hedonē:
pleasure
sōphrosynē (or sōphrosunē):
moderation, temperance, balanced
theōria: looking at, viewing, beholding, rational contemplation, knowing
technē:
craft, art of making something , practical skill
A.3 General Theoretical Framework
1. Human beings naturally
desire the good (agathos)
and well-being (eudaimonia).
2. Virtue (aretē)
is a means to the end (telos) of achieving the good life and
well-being.
3. Like everything in the world, humans have a distinctive function
or activity (ergon) that is specific to their kind, unique to their
species.
4. Well-being (eudaimonia)
consists in the successful performance of one’s distinctive function.
5. Nothing or no one can successfully carry out its
relevant function unless it possesses the requisite excellence or virtue (aretē).
A.4 Two
Fundamental Questions Based on the Above Framework
2. What are the virtues, or the highest virtue (aretē),
that enables the maximum achievement of that function?
A.5 Three Types of Life (bios)
B. The Function Argument: determines the distinctive
or unique human function
1. Conditions of
Well-being (eudaimonia):
2. Soul (psychē): hierarchical network or structure of life-functions that exhibit increasing levels of complexity:
Soul (psychē) | |
Rational (Voluntary) | Irrational (Involuntary) |
Desire, Appetite, Will | Nutritive, Vegetative |
Rationality (Theoretical, Practical) | Sentience, Sensation |
C. Definition of eudaimonia
Intellectual/moral virtues distinction
Moral virtues: character, habit, Golden mean, instrumental
Instrumental good
(value): a means to an end (e.g., money, car, tool)
Vice: excess or deficiency
The Golden mean:
Moral Excellence or Virtue:
Ultimate well-being of man as the
contemplative life:
D.
Problems/Criticisms
1. Incomplete and impractical ethical theory because it
provides no clear guidelines (rules, principles, norms) for action. Is moral
action always a mean? always between extremes?
2. Do human beings possess a distinctive function
(essence), the successful performance of which constitutes their highest good?
3. Morality is not justified (derivation of validity) on
the basis of a rational self-interest in achieving happiness. Morality is not a
means to an end, but an end in itself (Kant, for example).
4. Aristotle’s list of moral virtues appears to be
culturally determined, traditionally Greek, and therefore not universally
applicable.
5. Aristotle’s hierarchical essentialism (higher/lower
functionality) privileges adult Greek males at the expense of non-Greek
barbarians, slaves, women, and children (sexism, racism, elitism,
ethnocentrism). Hence, Aristotle assumes an unjustified inequality.
E. LINKS
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