Strengths and weaknesses of Virtue Ethics-Aristole

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Strengths and weaknesses of Virtue Ethics-Aristole

Advantages

  • Individual's whole personality considered-not mere action they perform
  • not legalistic and allows for personal autonomy
  • exists without the requirement of religion
  • appeals to human intuitions - most of us would want to reach for eudaimonia
  • eliminates dangerous and unhelpful vices in society
  • Golden mean-flexible concept for situation and individual e.g. soldier vs mother for courage

Disadvantages

  • how do we know who is virtuous?
  • different people argue for different virtues - Nietzsche/Machiavelli example
  • aren't 'deficient' and 'excessive' subjective words to use?
  • how do we work out a golden mean? How do we know if we're right?
  • two or more virtues may conflict
  • goodness is not reached in one way - Owen Flanagan argues that"people find their good in many different ways."
  • goodness is not reached in one way - Owen Flanagan argues that"people find their good in many different ways."
  • MacIntyre's reliance on community brings up another weakness of virtue ethics: it is not culturally aware.-relative to culture what's considered virtuous

Evaluation

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