Virtue Ethics Basics

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  • Created by: Tori
  • Created on: 21-01-20 10:57
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  • Virtue Ethics Basics
    • What is a virtue?
      • The golden mean between the vices of excess and deficiency
      • Good qualities that we copy from others until they become habitual
      • Cultivated through practice over a lifetime
      • We should focus on perfecting one virtue before we move on to cultivating the next
    • Character based
      • 'how can i be a better person?'
        • Different to most ethical theories that are based around 'what should i do?'
        • Not focuesd on the morality of individual acts
    • Eudaimonia
      • Ultimate happiness
      • Human flourishing
      • Achived by cultivating virtues over a lifetime
      • Superior aim
    • Different Societies
      • Aristotle understood that different places have different morals, so what's considered a virtue will vary from place to place.
      • Unlike other philosophers, he didn't have to try and guess what future society may be like to keep his theory relevant, it can change with the times.
    • Vices and Golden Mean
      • Vices
        • Too much (excess) or too little (deficiancy) of a quality/trait.
      • Golden mean
        • The middlegorund between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiancy to find the virtue
    • Why do we become virtuous?
      • To reach Eudaimonia
        • Human Flourishing
        • Superior aim
    • How do we become virtuous?
      • Cultivated over a lifetime
        • Practiced until the virtuous reaction becomes habitual
          • Has to be interior not exterior acts to be virtuous
      • When making a moral decision, think of the most virtuous person you know and ask 'what would they do?'
    • Modern thinkers linked to Virtue Ethics
      • Philippa Foot
        • Elizabeth Anscombe
          • Mary Midgley

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