GORDON COLLEGE

Olongapo City

College of Allied Health Studies

School Year 2019-2022

VIRTUE ETHICS

Submitted by:

Bautista, Emmanuel

Dauba, Jhoana Mae

Fallorina, Marian Joyce

Gacayan, Emmanuel John

Montealegre, Queenie

Ramos, Valeen Rose

Group 6

Submitted to:

Mr. Edmar Kent B. Macaraeg

 Introduction
There has been a modern revival of interest in virtue ethics as a plausible moral
theory. There has been dissatisfaction with the way many modern moral theories emphasize
moral obligation and law at the expense, some argue, of the individual (Slote, 1997, p.
175). Hence, virtue ethics now stands as one of the leading moral theories in ethics. This
paper will explore the potential of virtue ethics as a plausible moral theory. It will begin by
explaining the main arguments of a virtue ethical approach and the advantages it has over
other moral theories. It will then go on to discuss three of the main varieties of virtue ethics;
care ethics, neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, and agent-based virtue ethics. For each, it will
explain how they distinctly define right action with regards to the virtues or the virtuous
agent. The final section of this paper will explore two main objections to virtue ethics as a
general moral theory. First, virtue ethics is self-effacing, as Simon Keller (2004) argues,
for the considerations it advances should not always serve as motives for action. Second,
the 'indeterminacy problem' states that virtue ethics fails to be action guiding. In light of
these issues, there is no particular advantage of virtue ethics over other moral theories.

Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks. It is

the quest to understand and live a life of moral character. This character-based approach to
morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing being honest,
brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character.
According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the right choice
when faced with ethical challenges.
(http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1385/virtue-ethics-and-moral-theory)

So, virtue ethics helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being.
And, it gives us a guide for living life without giving us specific rules for resolving ethical
dilemmas. (https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/virtue-ethics)
 Virtue Ethics Defined

Virtue Ethics is a moral philosophy that teaches that an action is right if it

is an action that a virtuous person would perform in the same situations. A virtue is a moral
characteristic that an individual need to live well.

Virtue Ethics puts emphasis on developing good habits of character of the agent
and avoid bad character traits or vices.

Virtue ethics, such as Aristotle, hold that people live their lives trying to develop
their faculties to the fullest extent.

Basically, the virtues are the freely chosen character traits the people praise in
others. People praise them because;

(1) they are difficult to develop;

(2) they are corrective of natural deficiencies (for instance, industriousness is

corrective of one's tendency to be lazy); and

(3) they are beneficial both to self and society.

 Socrates and Plato’s Moral Philosophy

Plato wrote down and essentially adhered to Socrates philosophy, it is practical for us
to treat ethical theories jointly here.

In the dialogue Gorgias written by Plato, Socrates indicates that “Pleasure and Pain
fail to provide an objective for determining moral from immoral since they do not
exist apart from one another, while good and evil do.
In Euthyphro, Socrates asks Euthyphro whether something is” good because the
Gods love it, or whether the Gods love it because it is good”. Socrates point is that what
is good has a certain independence from the whims of Gods’ determination of the rightness
of our actions and mores.
Central to Plato’s philosophy is his theory of forms—the objectively existing
immaterial entities that are the proper object of knowledge. Everything in material
world is what is by virtue of it is resemblance to, or participation in, his universal
form or idea. These unchanging independent forms are like ideal and stable models of the
ordinary observable objects.
Circularity and squareness are good examples of what Plato meant by forms. A thing
in the physical world may called a circle or square insofar as it resembles or participates
the form “circularity” or “squareness”. (Baird ,2009)
The highest of all forms is the good. For Plato, those who comprehend the good will
always do good actions. Bad actions are performed out of not knowing the good, to know
the good, nonetheless, requires an austrere and intellectually meticulous way of life.
 Aristotle’s Ethics

Three general descriptions:

1. Self-realizationalism
- In his philosophy, when someone acts in line with his nature or end
(‘telos”) and thus realizes his full potential, he does moral and will be
happy.

2. Eudaimonistic
- Focuses on happiness, or good for man, and how to obtain it.

3. Aretic
- Or virtue-based. Whereas act-oriented ethics is focused mainly on what
we should do, virtue ethics is interested basically on what we should be,
that is, the character or the sort of person we should struggle to become.

Aristotle’s ‘TELOS’

Aristotle believes that the essence or essential nature of beings, including humas,
lay not at their cause (or beginning) but at their end (‘telos’).

Happiness and Virtues

Aristotle believes that the ultimate goal is self-realization. This entails achieving
one’s natural purpose by functioning or living consistently with human nature.
Accomplishing it produces happiness; whereas inability to realize it leads to sadness,
frustration, and ultimately to poor life.
Virtue as Habit

Aristotle’s idea of happiness should also be understood in the sense of human

flourishing. This flourishing is attained by the habitual practice of moral and intellectual
excellence, or ‘vitues’.

Virtues and Golden Mean

Virtue refers to an excellence of moral or intellectual character. Aristotle

distinguishes two kinds of virtue:

1. Virtue of intellect- corresponds to the fully rational part of the soul, the intellect.
2. Moral virtue- pertains to the part of the rational soul which can ‘obey reason’. It is
an expression of character, formed by habits reflecting repeated choices, hence is
also called virtue of character.

‘Phronesis’ and Practice

In using the golden mean to become virtuous, we must recognize not only that the
mean is neither too much nor too little but also it is ‘relative to us’ as moral agents. What
constitutes the right amount of something may differ from person to another.

Aristotle teaches about an intellectual virtue that plays a significant role in Ethics.
The phronesis, the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom, is the kind of moral knowledge
which guides us to what is appropriate in conjunction with moral virtue.
 Thomas Aquinas’ Ethics

Thomas Aquinas was also called Angelic Doctor and the Prince of
Scholastics, (1225-1274). He was an Italian Philosopher and theologian who ranks among
the most important thinkers of the medieval time period.

In Ethics, Aquinas depends so heavily on Aristotle. Like the Greek

Philosopher, Aquinas believes that all actions are directed towards ends and the happiness
is the final end. Aquinas declares that the ultimate happiness consists in activities in
accordance with virtue. But like Augustine, Aquinas declares that ultimate happiness is not
attainable in this life, for happiness in the present life remains imperfect. True happiness,
then, is to be found only in the souls of the blessed in heaven or in beatitude with God.

The Natural Law. Central also in Aquinas ethics is his typology of laws.
By the term “law”, he means an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated
by someone who has care of the community. Aquinas’ laws should also be understood in
terms of “rules and measures” for people’s conduct and as “rational patterns of forms”.
Obedience to the law is thus viewed also as participating in or being in conformity with the
pattern or form.

Four Types of law

1. Eternal Law- refers to the rational plan of God by which all creation is ordered.
As God is the supreme ruler of everything, the rational pattern or form of the
universe that exits in His mind is the law that directs everything in the universe to
its appointed end.

2. Natural Law- is that aspect of the eternal law which is accessible to human reason.
This is the moral law, the law or order to which people are subject by their nature
ordering them to do good and avoid evil.

3. Human Law- refers to the positive laws. For natural law to be adhered to, more
exact and forceful provisions of human law are helpful.
 4. Divine Law- serves to complement the other types of law. It is a law of revelation,
disclosed through sacred text or scriptures and the church which is also directed
toward man’s eternal end.

Obviously, the type of law that is primarily significant in Ethics is the natural law.
Part of this natural law is inherent natural tendency to pursue the behavior and goals
appropriate to us.

Features of Human Action

Aquinas evaluated human actions on the basis not only of their conformity to the
natural law but also of their specific features.

1. Species- action refers to its kind. It is also called the object of the action.
2. Accidents- simply refer to the circumstances surrounding to the action.
3. End- stands for the agent’s intention,

Aquinas ethical theory states that for an action to be moral, the kind it belongs must
not be bad, the circumstances must be appropriate, and the intention must be virtuous.

Happiness, Moral Virtues, and Theological Virtues

Aquinas believes that all actions are directed towards ends and that happiness is the
final end. He also thinks that happiness is not equated with pleasure, material possessions,
honor, or any sensual good. But consist in activities in accordance with virtue.

Aquinas defines virtue as “a good habit bearing on activity” or a good faculty-habit.

Habits are firm dispositions or “hard to eradicate” qualities that dispose us to act in a
particular manner.
Types of Habit

A. Acquired Habit- The autonomous will of a person plays a major role in acquired
habits as they involve consistent deliberate effort to do an act time and again and
despite obstructions.
B. Infused Habit- The independent of this process as they are directly instilled by
God in our faculties. These virtues are thus divine gifts which elevate the activities
of those who received them.
i) Moral Virtues- have as their object not God Himself, but activities that are less
virtuous and inferior to the final end. To this kind belong the four basic virtues:
(1) Prudence
(2) Fortitude
(3) Temperance
(4) Justice
ii) Theological Virtues- are concerned directly with God. They provide us with
true knowledge and desire of God and of His will. The virtues of:
(1) Faith
(2) Hope
(3) Love

Aquinas also treats the theological virtues in terms of the vices and sins which
respectively conflict with them. The virtue of faith has as its counterpart the sins of
unbelief, heresy, and apostasy; the virtue of hope, the sins of despair and presumption; and
the virtue of charity or love, the sins of hatred, envy, discord and sedition.
 Analysis of Thomistic Ethics
One of the Aquina's accomplishment in Ethics is being able to mention, as much as
possible, all of the things that matter in ethical evaluation of actions. He holds that the
goodness or badness of an action lies in the interior act of will, in the external bodily act,
in the very nature of act, and even in it is consequences. Moreover, he avers that what
matters in morality is not what one actually does but also his intention in doing the act.
Thomistic ethics does not fall into just one neat contemporary category of moral
theory. By not giving emphasis on the result of actions in his so-called features of action,
we can say that he is more of a deontologist or Kantian than utilitarian. Thought his basic
tenet of actions must be directed to what is good somehow relates his theory to
utilitarianism and consequentialism in general. By advocating the roles played by virtues
in morality, Aquinas, like Aristotle is a virtue ethicist.
Thomistic Ethics prescription to do good, avoid evil, pursue knowledge, and live at
peace with our neighbors suggest, for instance, that governments should uphold specific
and technological endeavors that intend to produce advantageous outcomes.
Aquinas departs from Augustinian view of the world as sin-laden and disordered.
He instead promotes Aristotle positive depiction of the world as rational, humane and
ordered.
 Ethical Theories

Types of Ethical Theories

 Utilitirianism - ethical theory that determines from wrong by focusing on
outcomes. It is a form of consequentialism.

 Deontological - ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on

whether the action is right or wrong under a series of rules.

 Virtue Ethics - ethical theory that focuses mainly on individuals' characteristics.

Virtue Ethics was founded by Socrates (“I know I know nothing), he was always
asking questions whether how to judge a person by its action and was later on founded by
Plato and lastly, pointed out by Aristotle.

 Aristotle said “A moral person is someone who posesesses virtue and show it in
his/her actions and they should lack vices”

Aristotle made 2 types of Ethical Theory namely:

1. Nicomachean Ethics- Christian era but not yet profounded.

2. Eudaimonia (Eudaimonism) - it is a theory that holds that the proper goal of human
life is happiness or good life.

 Socrates as represented in Plato's early dialogues, held that virtue is a sort of

knowledge (the knowledge of good and evil) that is required to reach the ultimate
good, (eudaimonia) which is what all human desires and actions aim to achieve
(self realization).