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Instructor Resource Manual – Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, 9e – MacKinnon & Fiala
Chapter 8: Virtue Ethics
Learning Outcomes
• Explain how virtue ethics differs from other approaches to ethics.
• Describe some key virtues and how they are manifest in concrete situations.
• Explain how virtues are connected to an account of the functions or purposes of human
life.
• Describe how eudaimonia functions in the theory of virtue.
• Identify some features of the diverse cultural approaches to virtue.
• Explain how the idea of the Golden Mean functions in virtue ethics.
• Provide an overview of Aristotle’s moral philosophy.
• Defend your own thesis with regard to the value of virtue ethics.
Associated Readings
1. Aristotle, “The Nicomachean Ethics” from The Nicomachean Ethics, bks. 1 & 2.
Getting Started
You might get started by asking students what traits they admire in those people who stand out
as especially praiseworthy. Or, ask them what virtuous traits they seek in their dearest friends.
List the virtues on the board. Students may want to argue whether patience, for example, is a
virtue or about what counts as courage. This would be a way into Aristotle's theory of virtue as
an excellence of character and virtue as a mean between extremes. Have students consider
whether all the virtues they have listed can be described as a mean between two extremes. For
each virtue, have them state the corresponding vices.
Key Terms
Virtue ethics: normative theory that maintains that the focus of morality is habits, dispositions,
and character traits (associated with Aristotle).
Golden Mean: idea associated with virtue ethics that virtue is found in the middle between
excess and deficiency.
Instructor Resource Manual – Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, 9e – MacKinnon & Fiala
Cardinal virtues: primary virtues; the four cardinal virtues in the ancient Greek tradition are
justice, wisdom, moderation, and courage.
Eudaimonia: Greek term for human flourishing and happiness that is more than simply pleasure;
associated with Aristotle and virtue ethics.
Answers to End of Chapter Review Exercises
1. One basic difference, between virtue ethics and other types of ethics, is that most other
2. Intellectual virtues are mental skills that lead to good reasoning, whereas moral virtues are
3. Virtues are habits in that we develop them through practice. Just as other habits incline us
4. Kindness, courage, perseverance, loyalty, and honesty are just a few of the character traits
5. According to Aristotle, virtue is a mean between extremes of too much and too little of
6. Students’ answers may vary. You might stress how these two options are not mutually
exclusive.
7. Students’ answers may vary.
