Aristotle III:Virtue Ethics

PHIL 1003

Semester I 2009-10

What is ethics?

Moral virtue (ēthikē) derived from habits (ethos)

What is the nature of humans?

• As distinct from vegetable or animal?– Active– Rational

• These properties inform our understanding of the telos, or good of human beings.

• Our good (happiness) must rest on a basis of activity and reason.

What is the Good for man?

• Characteristics of the Good for man:– Complete– Self-sufficient– Choiceworthy (having merit)– Active

• Happiness

• What is happiness?

• Activity of the soul in accordance w/ virtue

‘…the human good turns out to be…

the soul’s activity that expresses virtue’ (NE, 1098a20)

You are not born virtuous;

You must become virtuous.

Virtue

• Everything has a virtue• Virtue means acting well, in accordance

with one’s nature;– Slaves, – plants, – animals, – humans all have virtues;

• Man’s particular virtue = acting from reason, for his community (polis).

Virtue

• The end of man is to act virtuously;

• Virtue is an activity;

• It makes us happy;

• We can become habituated to it through repetition of fine actions;

• Education in virtue is necessary.

Virtues and the Mean

• Virtue = the mean (mid-point) between extremes:– Courage: mean b/w foolish risk-taking and

cowardice – Generosity: mean b/w avarice and profligacy– Truthfulness: b/w boastfulness and self-

depreciation – Even-temperedness: b/w short temper and

apathy.

The Mean: what does it mean?

• Mathematical idea: the midpoint b/w two points• Aristotle applies it to virtue, NE, Bks 2, 4• EX: generosity: b/w stinginess and

extravagance:• “the excellence proper to material goods” (4.1)

– Judgment: when and to whom to give– E.g. modern philanthropists’ financial advisors– Harder to give up what we have produced– More generous when have less to give

What makes a person good?

• Nature: attributes with which we are born, i.e. genes (NE, Bk 10.9)

• *Habit*: – Pre-rational– shaped through repetition of good practices,

family and social influences.

• Teaching/Argument: – IF soul prepared through habituation.

Goods necessary for happiness (Pol. 7.1)

• Goods of soul most important:– Virtue, wisdom, even temper, kind-

heartedness, or philosophic disposition

• Must be nurtured, cultivated, formed by good habits

• Necessary, but not sufficient external conditions:– Goods of body, e.g. good health– External goods, e.g. wealth

Question

What external goods do we need? How much wealth, property, etc.?

Common view (Pol. 7.1)

• ‘Some think that a very moderate amount of excellence [virtue, goodness] is enough, but set no limit to their desires for wealth, property, power, reputation, and the like.’

• Does Aristotle agree with this view?

His answer

• The ‘facts…easily prove that mankind does not acquire or preserve the excellences by the help of external goods, but external goods by the help of the excellences, and…happiness…is more often found with those who are most highly cultivated in their mind and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods…’ (emph. added; Pol. 7.1).

The question is not:

What is virtue?

BUT

How to become good (NE, Bk 2.2)

What is really central:

How your habits are formed; do you have a good upbringing or a bad one, do you live in a city w/ good laws or

bad ones? (NE, 2.1-2)

Enter Sparta

• ‘…with a few exceptions, Sparta is the only state in which the lawgiver seems to have paid attention to upbringing and pursuits’ (NE, 10.9);

• ‘…all [citizens] belong to the state…and the care of each part is inseparable from the care of the whole. In this particular…the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] are to be praised, for they take the greatest pains about their children, and made education the business of the state’ (Pol. 8.1)

Ancient Greece

Happiness & Virtue: Philosophy

• ‘…the activity of philosophic wisdom is admittedly the pleasantest of virtuous activities…it is thought to offer pleasures marvelous for their purity and enduringness’ (NE 10.7, 1177a22).

• ‘…study seems to be the only activity that is loved for its own sake’ (NE 10.7)

What philosophers want

• Philosophy = “love of wisdom”

• Thales the Milesian ‘showed that philosophers can easily be rich if they want, but that their ambition is of another sort’ (Pol. 1.11);

• Hence Plato’s philosopher-kings do not want power; they want pure knowledge;

• They have to be forced to rule.

Role of leisure

• Practice of virtue is active• ‘the first principle of all action is leisure’ (Pol. 8.3)• ‘we regard happiness as depending on leisure’

(NE, 10.7)• What is leisure?

– freedom from drudgery;

• Also time for relaxation--what kind?– know how to use leisure well, e.g. by listening to the

right kind of music.

Forming habits:Music and Censorship

Plato• Music: Phrygian

harmonia; • Dorian for courage• Censor poetry;• Poetry attributes

responsibility for evil to god (Rep., 378a, 380b-c).

Aristotle (Pol., Bk 7)• Music: Lydian

harmonia• Avoid performing

music b/c this task is slave-like;

• Censor lewd dramas—e.g. of gods

• These are bad for children.

Preferred instrument (children only): the Kithara [lyre]

A base instrument: the Auloi [Pipes]

Question

• In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle proposes a system in which virtue, goodness and happiness could be induced by education. He suggests that a good upbringing and prudent habits in thought and action are the way to a 'good' life.

• His argument is strengthened by the fact that he views virtue as the middle-line between two opposing ideas. e.g. bravery is the in-between of rashness/cowardice.

• My question is: do you think that Aristotle's broad definition of virtue is valid? Are there any counter-examples? If so, can Aristotle's Ethics still be applied? (i.e. could his idea of moderation be what a society needs in its moral education?)

Any contemporary examples?

How are children’s habits formed today?