Virtue Ethics

The Ethics of Ethos

Ethical Theories

VirtueTeleological

Deontological

Ends

Consequences

Calculation

Ethos

Habits

Living

Rules

Absolutes

Simplicity

Action Disposition

Action

What Is Virtue?

• What exactly can we define as virtue?• In this next exercise you will need to

pick 5 of the possible characteristics of a virtuous person

Pick 5• Friendship• Justice• Courage• Temperance• Loyalty• Fortitude

Perseverance• Social Status• Honesty• Generosity

• Humour• Ambition• Wealth• Humility• Faithfulness• Hope• Agape• Anger• Obedience

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Kanye West (old grumpy) Hercules (young friendly)

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Jesus and Wayne Rooney

Good Quotes On Virtue

Rudolph Giulliani

• “I think the most fundamental change occurred when I dealt with the prostate cancer (age 55). That was the first time that required me to say, “ I am going to die. Not necessarily of cancer, but I am gonna die.” So you realize you’d better do something with your life that makes you happy with yourself. I decided that politics was not my whole life.”

Aristotle• Some people believe that

nature makes people good, others believe that it is habit, and still others say that it is teaching. Experience shows that logical arguments and teaching are not effective in most cases. The soul of the students must have been conditioned by good habits just as land must be cultivated to nurture seed. For a person whose life is guided by emotion will not listen to a rational argument, nor will he understand it.

• Weren’t those famous gurus the very people the world called successful? How on Earth was I to find happiness if I ended up being a nobody… and the impoverished one at that? Ergo, I concluded that Aristotle must be wrong. And everything I read in magazines and watched on the television argued against Aristotle’s conclusions. According to conventional wisdom, happiness is found, variously, by way of:

• A new job• A new house• A new city• A new mate• An adventure in faraway climes

Virtue• Strength of

Character (Habit)• Involving both

Feeling and Action• Seeks the mean

between excess and deficiency relative to us

• Promotes human flourishing

How To Achieve Eudaimonia

Aristotle defined Good as something that fulfils its ends purpose

The Telos of humanity is to be rational

The Ergon of reason in practice is virtue

“The good for human beings is an activity of the soul in accordance with arete”

Person Centred • The “ethics of dilemma” approach to morality forgets an essential part of ethics

– THE PERSON’S CHARACTER and how personal moral growth is encouraged

We are not concerned to know what goodness is but how to become good people, since otherwise our enquiry would be useless.

Aristotle

The ethical condition is not the condition of

having a certain right theory; rather the

ethical condition is having a certain

character.

Alasdair Macintyre

The Golden Mean

Mean

Deficiency

Excess

Cowardice

Recklessness?

One must find the right balance between Cowardice and Recklessness… Courage

Virtues and Spheres of Existence

Sphere of Existence

Deficiency

Mean Excess

Attitude Towards-Self

Servility, Self Depreciation

PrideSelf- Respect

ArroganceEgoismVanity

Attitude Towards Others

Ignoring ThemBeing a Doormat

AngerForgivenessUnderstanding

RevengeGrudgeResentment

Attitude Towards Our Offences

IndifferenceDownplaying

Anger RegretMaking AmendsSelf- Forgiveness

Toxic Guilt ShameScrupulosity

Phronesis

Aristotle's Concept Of Life And Death

1

2

3

4

Phronesis

Born Old

Sophia

Education

Parenting