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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
22
CHAPTER 4 – VIRTUE ETHICS
General Overview
The objectives of this chapter are to describe and analyze virtue ethics, from both Western and
Asian perspectives. This will involve distinguishing the ways in which virtue ethics differs from
both consequentialist and nonconsequentialist approaches. Central to this discussion will be the
investigation of the Aristotelian “good life” and the Confucian notion of “self-cultivation.”
Class Suggestions
This chapter treats the re-emerging virtue ethics approach from both Western and Asian
perspectives. Given this diversity, unique so far in the text, it will be important to distinguish the
ways in which comparative philosophical discussions can take place and also to warn students
away from falling victim to false cognates between the two traditions.
There are a range of activities that an instructor might use to help students learn and engage with
this material in this chapter. The section on Aristotle raises the question of an end or purpose to
life. This obviously has great potential for philosophical discussions and, again, there are a
variety of exercises you might use to get students thinking about it. This is related, and yet
distinct from the Confucian notion of self-cultivation or self-development. Here is a simple but
very effective exercise involving the whole class: get students to each write their names at the
top of a blank piece of paper. Below that they should write “I attend college in order to…” and
they should complete the sentence by thinking about their reason for attending college. Students
then pass their piece of paper to the person on the left. Each student should now take the end of
the previous sentence and use it begin a new sentence. If one attends college “to.. get a good
job,” the next sentence would begin “I want to get a good job in order to…” When the second
sentence has been completed, students should fold over the first sentence, so that only the second
sentence is visible, and once again pass it to their left. Try six or seven rounds or until they run
out of reasons. Get students to return the papers back to the person whose name is at the top and
ask students to read out what’s written on their sheet of paper. Be prepared for comedy. In a
feedback session the instructor might raise the issues of whether all actions have a purpose,
whether there is an ultimate end to all of our actions, i.e., happiness, pleasure, etc., and whether
morality should or should not serve those ends. This is usually where comedy yields to tragedy.
Chapter Summary
Virtue ethics, among the oldest of all ethical theories, has experienced considerable resurgence in
popularity over the last several decades. Rather than focus on consequences, rules, and/or
intuitions, virtue ethics focuses on the development of human character, the shaping or molding
of a good or “virtuous” person. It is also the locus of fruitful comparative philosophical
discussions between West and East, with particularly striking similarities to the views of
Confucius, for example.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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Virtue Ethics
Aristotle is regarded as main virtue ethicist. Virtue ethics focuses on “character” and developing
this character in accordance with the virtues.
Virtue – that state that enables a thing to perform its function well.
Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics
Ethics is teleological and aims at some end. For Aristotle that end is happiness. To achieve
happiness for Aristotle one must live in accordance with reason, which prescribes a virtuous life.
Goodness of Character
Natural ethical tendencies in human beings. Following these tendencies with consistency and
proportion will lead to goodness of character and aid in living the ethical life.
Development of the Good or Virtuous Human Being
Goodness of character must be developed by practice and habit. Practicing telling the truth, for
example, will make us truthful.
Virtue and Vice
Virtue is mean between the extremes of vice – excess and deficiency.
How to Determine the Mean
The mean is determined as “relative to us”: too little courage is cowardice, too much is
foolhardy. Note that “relative to us” does not mean “relative” in the sense of “relativism.” There
is, on Aristotle’s view, an objective fact about the universe that dictates where the mean is for
any particular individual. For example, a very large adult man would need more calories each
day than a very small adult man would. The range may not be significant, but it is distinct and
“relative to the individual.”
Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation
The concept of virtue, de, is central to Chinese theories of moral development and the cultivation
of the self. The notion that the life of a virtuous person would have a powerful influence on the
lives of others. De is seen as the stable and guiding character from which flows good conduct,
respect and loyalty, and positive power.
The Confucian Analects
Human beings are fundamentally social and thus defined, in part, by the relationships into which
a person is born, into which he/she grows, and within which he/she lives.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
24
The Five Confucian Cardinal Relationships
There is a significant difference between being a good person and doing the right thing. A bad
person, for example, might well do “the right thing.” Confucian relationships are a matter of
reciprocity or shu. The notion of Confucian friendship is a profitable comparison to the
Aristotelian notion.
Confucian Harmony
Much as Aristotelian ethics is a matter of achieving a sort of balance within the soul, so one sees
in Chinese thought an aim at a grand harmony, both individual and cosmic. Two virtues are
particularly meaningful here – ren which is a matter of fellow-feeling or benevolence and li
which is a matter of ritual propriety and appropriateness.
Confucian Role Ethics
Confucian role ethics has no Western equivalent. The Confucian does not consider abstract
individuals but places the focus of attention on concrete persons in a matrix of role relationships
with others. The ground of this ethic is “family reverence” or “family feeling” (xiao).
Contemporary Analysis of Virtue Ethics
Alasdair Macintyre is the best-known proponent of contemporary virtue ethics. Human beings
must know what they are doing when they judge and act virtuously, and they should do what is
virtuous because it is so.
Advantages
1. Attempts to create good human beings rather than good acts or rules.
2. Virtue ethics unifies reason and emotion. Anc and Kant separate reason/emotion.
3. Emphasizes moderation and situatedness rather than absolutes or grossly relativistic
principles.
Disadvantages
1. Do humans have a telos, an end or purpose?
2. Are morals naturally implanted?
3. What is virtue and what constitutes the virtues?
Who is the Ideal Virtuous Person?
We all have our favorite but there is no agreement of ideal traits. Virtue ethics seems to suggest
that we merely educate the virtues creating virtuous people and moral problems are solved.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
25
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Virtues
Vices
Ends
Teleology
Happiness
The Mean
de
ren
li
shu
xiao
benevolence
propriety
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. How are the virtue ethics of Aristotle and Confucius similar? Distinct?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Aristotelian virtue ethics? Compare with its
modern equivalents.
3. Compare virtue ethics to both consequentialist and nonconsequentialist approaches. Of the
three, which is the best and why?
4. How does the notion of “self-cultivation” lead to influence of society more broadly?
TRUE/FALSE
1. Virtue ethics is the belief that good character can be developed.
2. Aristotle’s ethics relied exclusively on the emotions in moral life.
3. Confucian “self-cultivation” can be straightforwardly substituted for Aristotelian views.
4. Virtue ethics is a relatively recent development in ethical theory.
5. Virtue ethics dates to ancient Greece and ancient China.
6. Aristotle is concerned with action, not as a matter of the action itself being right or wrong,
but as it leads to the human good.
7. The Golden Mean (or the Aristotelian Mean) is the locus of virtue.
8. The deficiency of courage is rashness.
9. Confucian Harmony and Aristotelian Balance are comparable concepts.
10. Li is a matter of “ritual propriety.”
MULTIPLE CHOICE
11. Virtue ethics was most famously formulated in ancient Greece by
a) Parmenides.
b) Zeno.
c) The oracle.
d) Aristotle.
12. Who is the most significant modern proponent of virtue ethics?
a) Kant
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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b) Sosa
c) Macintyre
d) Nozick
13. Benjamin Franklin believed that the virtues were __________ in character.
a) deontological
b) utilitarian or teleological
c) egoistic
d) emotional
14. Which of the following is a matter of “ritual propriety”?
a) de
b) li
c) ren
d) shu
15. Who is the Confucian disciple who viewed human beings as innately good?
a) Xunzi
b) Aristotle
c) Mencius
d) Master Xun
16. Which is the chief Confucian virtue that highlights the natural relationship between the
individual and the community?
a) de
b) li
c) ren
d) shu
17. Which of the following are Confucian Cardinal Relationships?
a) ruler and subject
b) father and son
c) elder brother and younger brother
d) none of these
18. The excess and deficiency relative to the virtue courage are
a) rashness and cowardice.
b) bashfulness and shamelessness.
c) boastfulness and self-depreciation.
d) buffoonery and boorishness.
19. The feeling or action related to the virtue “modesty” is
a) shame.
b) confidence.
c) truth-telling.
d) courage.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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20. For Aristotle, the two endpoints (excess and deficiency) related to the mean are
a) vices.
b) virtues.
c) meaningless.
d) rituals.
Answer Key to Chapter 4 Test Questions
True or False:
Multiple Choice :
