enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk Michael Lacewing The good What is the good for human beings What is it that we are aiming at What would provide a successful fulfilling good life ID: 635547
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Slide1
Aristotle on virtue
Michael Lacewingenquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk
© Michael LacewingSlide2
The good
‘What is the good for human beings?’
What
is it that we are aiming
at?
What
would provide a successful, fulfilling, good life
?
Eudaimonia: The good for a human life
‘living well and faring well’: flourishing
Aristotle argues that we are distinctively rational creatures, and so eudaimonia consists in living in accordance with reason
Virtues are traits of mind or character that enable us to do thisSlide3
The rational soul
Arational part
Rational part
Growth and nutrition
Desire and emotion
‘responsive to reason’
Reason
‘rational in itself’
Virtues of character
Virtues of intellect
(c) Michael LacewingSlide4
What is a moral virtue
?Aristotle: a moral virtue
is a state of character by which you ‘stand well’ in relation to your desires, emotions and choices:
A character trait is a disposition relating to how one feels, thinks, reacts etc. in different situations, e.g. short-tempered,
generous
Character traits are more stable and long-lived than mental states like moods and desires. They can change over a lifetime, but are central to being the person one is.
A virtue is a disposition to feel, desire and choose ‘well’
© Michael LacewingSlide5
The doctrine of the mean
Virtues and virtuous actions lie between ‘intermediate’ between two vices of ‘too much’ and ‘too little’Compare eating too much/little
Not arithmetical
‘to feel [desires and emotions] at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way’
This is Aristotle’s ‘doctrine of the mean’
But this is not the same as ‘moderation’ on all
occasions
© Michael LacewingSlide6
Annas’ development
Doing the right thing for the right reasons and in the right wayRight way: including right feelings – whole-heartedlyRight reasons: understanding that this is the right thing to do and why
© Michael LacewingSlide7
Practical wisdom
Practical wisdom – an intellectual virtue – helps us know what the right time, object, person, motive and way isTo feel ‘wrongly’ is to feel ‘irrationally’
A virtue, then,
‘a state of character concerned with choice, lying in the mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the person of practical wisdom would determine it
’
© Michael LacewingSlide8
Virtues and vices
Passion/concern
Vice of deficiency
Virtue
Vice of excess
Fear
Cowardly
Courageous
Rash
Pleasure/pain
‘Insensible’
Temperate
Self-indulgent
Money
Mean
Liberal (‘free’)
Prodigal
Important honour
Unduly humble
Properly proud
Vain
Small honours
‘Unambitious’
‘Properly ambitious’
‘Overambitious’
Anger
‘Unirascible’
Good-tempered
Short-tempered
Pleasant to others
Quarrelsome
FriendlyObsequiousShameShyModestShamelessAttitude to other’s fortuneSpitefulRighteously indignantEnvious
© Michael LacewingSlide9
Acquiring virtues
We acquire virtues of character
through
the habits we form during our upbringing
.
Virtues can’t simply be ‘taught’ – there are no moral child prodigies
We are not virtuous ‘by nature’, but become virtuous by practising
Like learning to play a musical instrument
So we become just by doing just acts
© Michael LacewingSlide10
The skill analogy
(1) We develop virtues like we develop practical skillsPractice, not just theory, is neededHow can we do just acts unless we are already just?
‘in accordance with’ justice
v
.
just acts done as a just person would do it
(2) The aim is to learn to think for oneself
The expert has moved from following rules to developing a highly attuned sensitivity to each situation
The expert knows why a particular responses is most appropriate in a particular situation
© Michael LacewingSlide11
Virtuous action
A fully virtuous
action
know
what
you are
doing,
chooses the act for its own sakechoose from
a firm and unchangeable characterAs we become just, we understand what justice is and choose it because it is just
Disanalogies with skills:We can opt out of the end for skills but not for virtuesMany skills are developed without involving our emotions, but this is central to virtue
© Michael Lacewing