Post #5 Ethics – Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

    Ethics has been a large question through the history of civilization, with one of the first moral theories being formed by the immortal philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle's book Nicomachean Ethics, also called Virtue Ethics, focuses on the notion of life in moderation, rather than living a life of excess or deprivation.

    

    Before getting into the core of virtue ethics, we must first look at Aristotle's teleology. For Aristotle, everything in existence, manmade or natural, has a characteristic function, which is that which it alone can do or do best. For example, a knife's function is to cut things. Virtues are those attributes which help the object perform its function well. In the example of a knife, virtues of it would be to be sharp or durable, as that would help it cut well. To find the function and those virtues of humans, however, Aristotle looked into his view of the soul, which Aristotle considered a tripartite soul, with three parts. Aristotle believed that we have a nutritive soul, which is possessed by all living things and governs the growth of the living being; a sensory soul, possessed by animals and humans which governs our movement and our perception of the world around us; and the rational soul, possessed only by humans and which governs our reasoning and thinking of which only we are capable. As humans are the only ones with the rational soul, our function lies in that soul, as it is that which we alone can do or do the best. Aristotle determined that the function of a human is to live a life of self-directed rational activity, and as such, our virtues are those which helped us live such a life well. Of these virtues, Aristotle divided them into two groups, virtues of thought and virtues of character, this will be a focus namely on the virtues of character.

    

    Aristotle believed that both virtues and vices do not occur naturally in humans, but rather, they must be obtained through habitual practice. For Aristotle, virtues and vices are obtained in the same fashion as skills of a craft – for one to become a builder, they must build, for one to become a musician, they must make music, for one to be virtuous, one must practice virtuous activity.

    

    Now then, to get into what those human virtues to aspire for are. For Aristotle, those virtues are the means of the ranges of excess and deficiency, which are both vices according to Aristotle. This concept is also known as the doctrine of the golden mean as a result. For example, look at the feeling of confidence. To be deficient in confidence, is to be cowardly, a vice to Aristotle. To be in excess is to be rash, another vice. As such, the mean of these two would be to be courageous and is the virtue to aspire to. Another might be shame. A deficiency of shame would be shamelessness, but an excess would be bashfulness, and the virtuous mean would be modesty. However, something to make clear is that there is no mathematical "right" medium to these, as what might be courageous or modest to one, might be a level of vice to another person. For example, in a case of eating, what might be a temperate meal to an American football player might be considered a gluttonous meal to the average person. 

    Virtue ethics is considered a notable theory because it encourages no excess of one thing, but a moderation of all, which is an attractive idea to many desiring a virtuous lifestyle. Aristotle also emphasizes the value of beginning such a practice of moderation as young as possible, which shows the importance and value of upbringing in the development of one's moral character. As such, the general moral principle best fitting of virtue ethics would be that "An action is right if and only if it is an action a fully virtuous person would do."

    Virtue ethics, though a seemingly vague idea, is one which has survived throughout time since the time of Aristotle. However, as with all moral theories until today, there are flaws with the theory that we will go into next time.