THE ETHICS OF VIRTUE

The Ethics of Virtue and the Ethics of Right Action

Classical Formulation: Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics

• Summary
• "The moral virtues are the virtues of persons as such" (162): "Categorical" Virtues
• not just "hypothetical" virtues as teachers, as musicians: say I'm a bad teacher & you just condemn my pedagogy
• say I'm morally bad & you condemn ME outright.
• "[W]e shall find the best good good if we first find the function of a human being.  For just as the good, i.e. well [doing], for a flautist, a sculptor, and every craftsman, and in general anything that has a function and [characteristic] action, depends on its function, the same seems to be true for a human being, if a human being has some function." (1097b25)
• Argument (1098a20)
• "[T]he function of F, e.g. of a harpist, is the same in kind . . . as the function of an excellent F, e.g. an excellent harpist."
• a harpist is someone who plays the harp
• an excellent harpist is one who plays the harp well
• "The same is true unconditionally in every case, when we add to the function the superior achievement that expresses the virtue [proper to that function]."
• the virtue of harpists as harpists resides in their harp playing ability
• the virtue of teachers as teachers resides in their teaching ability
• the virtue of fuel pumps as fuel pumps resides in their fuel pumping ability
• The human function is to live a human life
• not just to feed & breed (plants do as much)
• not just to enjoy feeding, breeding etc. (beasts do as much)
• a life subject to rational oversight.
• Subordinates the question of right conduct to the question of good character
• Good character
• having certain human excellences or virtues we naturally admire in others and wish for in ourselves
• Examples: courage, wisdom,. generosity, friendliness, honesty
• Good conduct: doing the sort of things that
• spring from virtues (in those that already have them)
•  inculcate and perfect the virtues (in those who yet aspire)
• Good deeds are just the sorts of deeds that good (rational & admirable) people do.

Legalistic Morality (Contrast)

• Good conduct = obedience to moral law
• God given: Divine Command
• As dictated by Utility: Rule Utilitarianism
• As dictated by pure reason: Kant
• As part of the social contract: SCT
• Virtue or good character = propensity to follow these rules
• Good people are the sort of people who do good (lawful) deeds.
• Contrast
• Virtue ethics
• begins with a conception of the good person
• defines good conduct as the sort of conduct that
• people who are that way go in for
• and that makes people that way.
• rules just rough generalizations
• about what sorts of things good folks do under various circumstances
• "among statements about conduct . . . those which are particular are more genuine, since conduct has to do with individual cases, and our statements must harmonize with the facts in these cases." (1107a28)
• Legalistic ethics
• begins with rules
• defines good conduct as that which accords with the rules
• defines good persons as those who conduct themselves accordingly

Should We Return to the Ethics of Virtue?

Anscombe's complaint

• legalistic ethics rest on the incoherent notion of a "law" without a lawgiver: DCT unacceptable
• and the alternative sources of moral "legislation" are inadequate substitutes

Vices of Legalism (e.g. Kant's) & the Virtues of Virtue

• Virtue > Continence > Incontinence > Vice: sez Aristotle
• If Law comes first then then moral behavior is essentially obedient or dutiful
• Virtuous persons do as they please:
• what comes naturally for them: by "habit" (Aristotle) or "second nature"
• compare St. Augustine: amor et fac quod vis: "Love and do what you will."
• Virtuous acts -- by legalistic lights -- not moral
• not necessarily immoral -- contrary to the Law
• more like amoral: virtuous acts are from the heart not from dutiful respect for the moral law
• what's done is in accord with the rules (usually)
• but it's not done for that reason
• from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks
• Unreliability of dutiful approach: virtuous persons not only have better characters, they do better deeds!
• virtuous deeds embody the living spirit not the dead letter
• "the righteousness of the pharisees": much wickedness workable within the letter
• "A truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent." (Blake)
• "[T]he mercy of the wicked is cruel" (Prov.20:11)
• passive aggression & other devious psychological deviations

The Virtues

What virtues (& vices) are

• Traits of character
• expressed by habitual patterns of behavior
• same patterns of behavior through which they are acquired
• that are good (bad) for people as such to have
• traits we take to be desirable (undesirable) or admirable (shameful) for people as such
• virtue of anything consists in performing (or having the capacity for performing) its proper task well
• e.g., virtues of cars: reliability, handling, braking, acceleration
• virtues of cat burglars: stealth, agility, fearless of heights, skillful at lock picking.
• c. Proper function of humans as such?
• Aristotle
• vegetative fulfillment: health & reproduction
• animal fulfillment: pleasure & sensation & travel
• personal fulfillment:
• thought
• artistic creativity
• self direction (moderation & self control)
• Freud: to love & work

Moral Virtues as Means between Vices of Excess & Defect

• Examples
• Cowardice - Courage - Rashness: facing dangers for at the right place, at the right time, for the right purposes.
• Shyness - Pride - Boastfulness: exhibiting self-confidence or putting yourself forward
• Stinginess - Generosity - Wastefulness: sharing of goods
• Dishonesty - Honesty - Tactlessness: telling the truth
• Cruelty - Firmness/Kindness - Softness: exercising force or command
• Discussion
• determining the mean and moderating desires & actions accordingly are exercises of intelligence: the practice of moral virtue is mentally self-actualizing.
• courage involves standing up to dangers in the right way, at the right time, at the right place, for the right reasons (where "right" is as reason determines)
• determination involves trade-offs between values (of the sort that absolute rules won't allow): e.g., the tactless person doesn't balance concern for truth with concern for not causing pain
• Special duties
• partiality toward friends at the heart of certain traditional virtues
• loyalty
• friendship
• Freud: to love everyone equally would be not to giving a damn about anyone.
• Tradeoffs here too: e.g., the case of the murdering-rapist buddy

Why "virtue is its own reward"

• Virtues are characteristics that make for human fulfillment: a well rounded & happy life
• Psychological health & mental balance: psychological self-actualization

Advantages of Virtue Ethics

Correct Account of moral motivation:

• virtue > continence
• the case of Smith (the dutiful hospital visitor)

Makes room for partiality

loyalty and friendship are virtues

one is allowed -- even required -- to show partiality for family, friends, etc.

to the right right persons, in the right circumstances, to an appropriate degree, etc.

Speaks to feminist concerns about masculine bias

• restores focus on the personal & private: on individual ties to particular people
• not just the impersonal and public: on humanity & society

Explains centrality of Moral Heroes in almost Every Ethical Tradition

• Jesus & the saints: WWJD?
• Mohammed
• Moses and the prophets
• Buddha & the Bodhisattvas
• Heroes of Old (in Greek & other traditional lores).

Criticisms of Virtue Ethics: Incomplete & Insufficient

Neglects Conduct

• Criticism
• Kantianism & Utilitarianism propose would-be rigorous procedures for deciding what to do in whatever circumstances.
• Virtue ethics leave you flying by the seat of your pants: inadequate "code to live by"
• "become yourself"
• "Love and do as you will"
• Reply
• Right thing to do is to act as good (admirable) people do: moral heroism
• Back at ya: the "decision procedures" of Utilitarianism & Kantianism are just "wanna-be" decision procedures: conflicts or rules & benefits/costs
• morality is flying by the seat of your pants: so train up good pilots
• better to recognize this than to pretend its otherwise
• In putting the letter not the spirit first, it's Kantianism & Utilitarianism that neglect conduct

Incompleteness

• Gives us no formula for deciding conflict cases
• E.g., between friendship & justice: case of the rapist buddy
• E.g., between filial piety & patriotism: Sartre's case
• E.g., between truthfulness & prevention of suffering: Gestapo questioning case
• Reply: ethics is like that
• Conflict cases cause trouble for other theories as well: e.g., Kant's
• life as art: a creative adventure: no rules for artistic creativity

Warring Analogies

• Morality as a higher law
• DCT & Natural Law
• Rule Utilitarianism
• Kantianism
• Contractarian Views
• Act Utilitarianism: morality as a higher economy
• Virtue Ethics: Warring analogies?
• morality as a higher medicine: virtue as spiritual or psychological health
• morality as high art: art of living