Now On VHS! Ultimate Virtue Ethics: Five Theories in One Lecture

This video covers the virtue ethics of: • Aristotle • Aquinas • Buddhist • Confucian • Taoist Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics Student of Plato and one of the greatest thinkers of all time. • Ethics are a matter of science and that there is an objectively “right” kind of life. In the same way there is a right kind of way for plants to grow. o Is an essentialist. o A good life requires virtue and contemplation. A good life requires • External goods to satisfy basic needs (food, water, and housing) • Leisure time for contemplation • Physical health • And friends (particularly virtuous friends). Created Hylomorphism o (Hule) – Matter or all accidental qualities o (Morphe) – Form or soul or substance • All things have an essence (a universal form), all cats share in “Catness”. This stays the same over time. • All things have matter, (the stuff they are made of), this also includes some nonphysical (mental) characteristics. These can change. • Enough changes of matter or substance can change something’s form. o A table can be taken apart to make a chair. o A mean person can change into a nice person. • Believes all things (humans included) have a function and ought to move towards a goal. • Our goal is to reach our essence (or form), this is called Eudaimonia (flourishing). • He created his ethics to help us better progress towards our goal. Which includes living a moral life filled with reason and contemplation. • He believes morality is something that must be practiced by studying and living the right way. • We can only become moral when we exercise prudence (phronesis) and act in the right way at the right time. • He names many “universal” situations which we may find ourselves in and describes the extremes of them. o The virtuous way is usually the “golden mean” between the two extremes. By practicing to virtues and building good habits, we will more naturally act virtuously in the situations where we need to act virtuously. Which allows them to live good lives. Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics Christ focused reinterpretation of Aristotle. Sin affects our moral life (how we act) but not our rational life (can we reason). Thus, we can learn how to act properly, even if Sin makes us want to act improperly. To be virtuous we must learn the Natural Laws to see God’s design and purpose. Then we must practice the four Cardinal Virtues: 1. Temperance 2. Courage 3. Prudence 4. Justice Buddhist Virtue Ethics Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in 5th century B.C. India. • Buddha means enlightened one. Goal is to be free from eternal suffering (life) and end the cycle of reincarnation (Nirvana). Done through meditation, prayer, fasting, charity, and virtue. Buddhists try to follow the Eightfold Path (Following the path is sometimes called the Dao/Tao in Chinese Buddhism). Each of the Eight folds is known as a pillar. All pillars support Right Concentration. Karma determines if we can break the cycle of suffering and bad actions cause bad karma. Karma is like a natural phenomenon. Karma carries over then reincarnated. We must act suitably and develop virtuous character. Confucian and Taoist Virtue Ethics Both Confucius (Kong-Zi) and Loa Tzu (Laozi) live around 2500 years ago in Ancient China. Both believed we must be in harmony with nature and with the seasons. Known as following the way (also called the Dao or Tao). Both have a focus on social harmony. Both grew up and lived as pantheists and worshipped a variety of local and regional gods. However, both disagreed on the best way to live a moral life and the best way to live in society. Their philosophies were contemporary competitors in the times after their deaths. The teachings of Confucius were expanded by Mencius (Mengzi) and Confucianism became the dominant state philosophy for about 1900 years in China. The teachings of Lao-Tzu were expanded by Chuang-Tzu (Zhuang Zhou or Zhuangzi). Confucius argued that virtue grew from ritual propriety and that to be virtuous we must mold our character with virtuous practices. • Benevolence is something we must practice and focuses on creating virtue in oneself and society. • Filial piety is one of the most important virtues and focuses on honoring one’s parents and elders. • Confucius felt the best life was one actively involved and society, working for society, and studying. Each has a season in life. Lao-Tzu argues we must follow the virtue of Wu Wei (effortless action). We must live our lives in such a way so that we can fit into our role in society and go with the flow. • We must step away from human pretenses and arrogance. • We must practice: o Selflessness o Moderation o Detachment o And Humility Objections to Virtue Ethics 1. Virtue ethics are too vague and subjective to be useful. We cannot make laws from virtue ethics and we cannot use them to reconcile ethical dilemmas. 2. Different cultures have different views of the virtues and flourishing. What do you think?