Aristotle And Virtue Ethics

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a major Greek philosopher during the Socratic (or Classical) period who was based primarily in Athens. 

 

•    He is one of the most influential figures in Western philosophy, and the first to develop a comprehensive philosophical system that encompasses Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics, Metaphysics, Logic, and Science.

 

•    According to Aristotle, if we simply concentrate on being good people, the right actions will naturally follow.

 

•    Knowledge, courage, bravery, and perseverance, according to Aristotle, do not make a morally good character or man. Their ethical significance is determined by the motivations and values that they are linked to. As a result, Aristotle correctly distinguishes between moral and intellectual virtues.

 

•    Aristotle's most well-known work on ethics is known as the Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle's goal is to find the highest good for humans. While the majority of people believe that the highest good is the acquisition of material wealth, the pursuit of honour, or the enjoyment of bodily pleasures, this is not the case. 

•    According to Aristotle, all of these goods are deficient in some way in the highest good. The acquisition of material wealth is always for the purpose of obtaining something else.

 

•    Pursuing honour has nothing to do with a person's personality, but it does have something to do with how others perceive him, and pleasure is not the highest goal of any human being. 

 

•    According to Aristotle, the HIGHEST GOOD must be something that is consistent with our human faculties. The ability to reason distinguishes humans from non-human animals. And a life devoted solely to physical pleasures is not fit for human beings, but rather for cattle (read animals). As a result, he claims that a good life for humans would be centred on contemplation and learning or acquiring intellectual virtues.

 

•    Aristotle connects intellectual virtues to what we now call scientific knowledge.

 

1.    Knowledge derived from natural fundamental truths.

 

2.    Knowledge derived from inference or demonstration, or knowledge derived from applying these natural fundamental truths. 

 

•    However, spending one's entire life in contemplation is insufficient. 

 

•    According to Aristotle, a person who lives a good life acts correctly and develops the appropriate character traits. While intellectual virtues are acquired through education, character virtues such as courage, perseverance, and generosity are acquired through practise (habits). 

 

•    Nature, according to Aristotle, has built into us the desire to be virtuous, not God's plan. What does it mean to be virtuous, though? According to Aristotle, virtue simply entails doing the right thing at the right time, in the right manner, in the right amount, and toward the right people.

 

•    Virtue, according to Aristotle, is a strong character trait that, once developed, leads to predictable good behaviour. Virtue is the point where two extremes meet. In Aristotle's concept of character virtues, the golden mean doctrine is central. Between the vices of excess and deficiency, these virtues occupy a middle ground.

 

•    Virtue, according to Aristotle, is a skill, a way of living, and it can only be learned through experience. 

 

•    Aristotle coined the term "virtue" to describe a type of knowledge he called "practical wisdom." 

 

•    Our character is developed through habituation, according to Aristotle. If you do a virtuous thing over and over again, it will eventually become a part of your character. But how do we know what is the right thing to do in the first place? 

 

•    According to Aristotle, we should look up to virtuous people, who are referred to as moral exemplars. We must idolise them and strive to be like them. Such emulation would instil these virtues in our character over time, and we would eventually develop a virtuous character.

 

•    Aristotle's highest good-EU-DAIMONIA-is the acquisition of both intellectual and character virtues (which roughly translates to a life well lived; human flourishing or happiness)

 

•    According to Aristotle, certain external conditions must exist in order for the virtues to be developed. External circumstances that are frequently beyond an individual's control (Aristotle's circle of influence).

 

•    Individual characters develop on a scale of bad to good. A spectrum spanning Vicious to Virtuous, with incontinent and continent in the middle.

 

•    The Vicious Man is the worst; he enjoys acting in a bad way. Next is the incontinent man, who is prone to acting inappropriately and gives in to these inclinations out of weakness. 

 

•    As a result, while he satisfies his desires, he is dissatisfied with himself. The continent man, unlike the incontinent man, has the strength of will and, despite being tempted to do what is wrong, acts rightly.

 

•    However, he is not completely satisfied because he was unable to satisfy his inclinations. Because these two things are aligned, Aristotle's virtuous man can satisfy both his inclination and his rational desires. 

 

•    He aspires to do the right thing and, as a result, enjoys the benefits of good behaviour. According to Aristotle, one of the functions of a well-ordered state is to guide and assist individuals in their journey from vicious to virtuous. Laws should be enacted to instil in people the habit of doing the right thing. 

 

•    As a result, doing the right thing becomes habitual over time, and the character becomes virtuous. As a result, Aristotle contends that a legislator must possess the intellectual virtue of PHRONESIS, which is linked to an understanding of what constitutes virtuous and vicious behaviour, as well as the ability to guide people toward doing what is right.

 

•    Most virtue theorists believe that there is a common set of virtues that all humans can benefit from, rather than different sets for different types of people, and that these virtues are natural to mature humans - even if they are difficult to acquire.

 

•    This is a problem because lists of virtues from different periods in history and societies differ significantly.

 

•    Prudence

•    Justice

•    Fortitude / Bravery

•    Temperance

 

1.    Justice—Justice requires that we treat all people fairly and equally.

 

2.    Fidelity—Fidelity necessitates that we treat those who are closest to us with extra caution.

 

3.    Self-care—affectively, mentally, physically, and spiritually, we each have a unique responsibility to care for ourselves.

 

4.    Prudence—a prudent person must always think about justice, faithfulness, and self-care. The wise person is always on the lookout for ways to improve the other three virtues.

 

1.    It focuses on the individual and what it means to be human.

2.    It encompasses a person's entire life.

 

1.    It doesn't give clear instructions on how to handle moral dilemmas.

2.    Despite the fact that it offers general advice on how to be a good person,

3.    We could assume that a completely virtuous person would know what to do and could serve as a good role model for us.

4.    There is no consensus on what constitutes a virtue.

5.    And it's possible that any list of virtues will be influenced by the culture in which it's compiled.