What is Virtue Ethics?

Summary

Virtue ethics is a normative ethical approach focusing on character traits rather than action consequences or rules. It emphasizes practical wisdom and moral development, guiding individuals towards a good life. Contemporary forms include ethics of care, emphasizing social relationships and kindness; agent-based theories, focusing on virtuous motives; and eudaimonist virtue ethics, aiming for a life of well-being through moral virtue exercise.

Takeaways

• 📚 Virtue ethics is a major approach in normative ethics focusing on personal traits or character.
• 🔍 It contrasts with consequentialism and deontological ethics by not providing specific principles or rules for action.
• 🧠 Practical wisdom is central to virtue ethics, helping individuals become virtuous, particularly in Aristotelian ethics.
• 🤔 Virtue ethics asks broader questions like 'What kind of life should I live?' rather than focusing on the rightness or wrongness of specific actions.
• 👥 The ethics of care emphasizes social and environmental relationships and sees care or kindness as the main virtue.
• 🌟 Michael Slote suggests that a morality based on caring can offer a general account of right and wrong actions.
• 🔑 Agent-based theories view the moral status of actions as dependent on the agent's motives and character.
• 🌱 Eudaimonist virtue ethics, derived from the Greek word for happiness or well-being, sees the good life as the highest goal of man.
• 🏆 Aristotle believed that happiness or the good life is achieved through the exercise of moral virtues over a lifetime.
• 💡 Phronesis, or practical wisdom, is necessary to enhance moral virtue and resolve ethical problems according to Aristotle.

Q & A

What is virtue ethics?

Virtue ethics is a major approach in normative ethics that emphasizes a person's traits or character in moral thinking, contrasting with consequentialism and deontological ethics which focus on the consequences of actions or adherence to rules and duties.

How does virtue ethics differ from deontology and consequentialism?

Virtue ethics focuses on the moral agent's character and traits rather than specific principles or rules (deontology) or the consequences of actions (consequentialism).

What is the role of practical wisdom in virtue ethics?

In Aristotelian ethics, which is the foundation for most virtue ethics theories, practical wisdom is central for helping individuals become virtuous and to guide them in seeking the good.

What broader questions does virtue ethics address?

Virtue ethics deals with questions like 'What kind of life should I live?', 'What is a good life?', and 'How can I be consistent in my moral actions?' rather than focusing on the rightness or wrongness of specific actions.

What are the three major forms of virtue ethics?

The three major forms of virtue ethics are ethics of care, agent-based theories, and eudaimonist virtue ethics.

How does the ethics of care define moral actions?

The ethics of care considers moral actions as centered on social and environmental relationships, with care or kindness as the main virtue.

What is the primary virtue according to the ethics of care?

In the ethics of care, caring is considered the primary virtue, and moral practices are developed with care as the central category.

How does agent-based theory view moral actions?

Agent-based theories view the moral status of actions as entirely dependent on the moral status of an agent's motives and character.

What is the significance of eudaimonism in virtue ethics?

Eudaimonism, derived from the Greek word for happiness or well-being, is the belief that the highest goal of man, eudaimonia, can be achieved through a lifetime of actively exercising moral virtues.

What is the role of phronesis in eudaimonist virtue ethics?

Phronesis, or practical wisdom, is needed to enhance moral virtue in eudaimonist virtue ethics and to resolve any concurrent ethical problems.

How does eudaimonist virtue ethics define the ultimate end of human life?

Eudaimonist virtue ethics sees the ultimate end of human life as achieving eudaimonia, or the good life, which is a state characterized by living well, not just feeling good.