Taking into account the sensuous nature of human beings, Kant states that it is very difficult for a man to be righteous without hope. Immortality guarantees this hope and ensures that there is a place sufficient for the reckoning of happiness in proportion to worthiness to be happy. The postulate of freedom is given a special position among the other two postulates. Freedom is an apriori that we do not understand but we know it as the condition of the moral law which we do know. It is because of freedom that God and Immortality gain objective reality and legitimacy and subjective necessity.
I may have an inclination for an object as the effect of my proposed action, but I cannot have respect for it, just for this reason, that it is an effect and not an energy of will. ” What you do out of duty does not include inclinations. Your good will cannot be judged by what you do, but why you did what you did. Inclinations are not respected, only acting out of duty can be respected. c) “Categorical Imperative: Those actions are right that conform to principles one can consistently will to be principles for everyone, and those actions wrong that are based on maxims that a rational creature could not will that all persons should follow” Kant says that an act is only right or moral if it is right for everyone.
Virtue ethics is agent-centred ethics rather than act-centred. Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher and believed that everyone wants to live a full and happy life, this is known as eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is the idea of ideal happiness and it is the highest good, because we desire it for its own sake and not as a means to an end. In his book, Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle stated that we want to be good, and there is a difference to things that are good as means, and things that are good as ends. A good life is something inherently worth having, unlike justice which is worth having because it leads to a good life.
Instead we should aim to become better people by developing positive character traits called virtues. Aristotle’s ideas concerning virtue are outlined by his use of the ‘Doctrine of the Mean’. He taught about to different vices that accompanied every virtue: * The vice of deficiency is the distinct lack of virtues, e.g. the deficient vice of modesty is shamelessness. * The vice of excess is entirely too much of the virtue which leads to excess rather than moderation, e.g.
Epicurus fails to define the boundaries of moral virtue, merely stating there could be harmful consequences without specific definition, Epicurus ultimately fails to develop a strong moral program. Aristotle questions the morality of pleasure and peoples’ intentions. He insists that there are other pleasures besides those of the senses, and that the best pleasures are the ones experienced by virtuous people who have sufficient resources for excellent activity such as the “man who has been educated in a subject and there for her is a good judge of that subject” (25). The philosopher states that pleasure is not to be desired for its own sake but rather that it stimulate the action of a healthy nature. He specifically argues that, “happiness must be explained in terms of reason…happiness depends on the actualization—the full realization—of one’s rationality” (22).
However, all of those Forms lead to the goal of life, the truth, the Form of the Good. Plato was largely concerned with the relationship between that which is real and empirical and that which is beyond the understanding of an ignorant, oblivious human. He stated that everything in the material world flows but all that flows is made after a Form, which is immutable and eternal. According to his theory, all humans have a duty to pursue the Good, but no one could do this successfully without philosophical reasoning, which is where his own guidance came in. As the Forms cannot be perceived by human senses, whatever knowledge we derive from the copies of that Form is uncertain.
Aristotle Virtue Ethics Aristotle was a great philosopher during the forth century. Throughout his article “Virtue Ethics”, he concentrates upon the concepts of virtue and happiness. “happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with perfect virtue(p. 394).” Both virtue and happiness are related to one another, for happiness is achieved through virtues. Aristotle defines happiness as the “highest of all practical goods”. It is agreed by the masses that happiness is associated with living well.
However, this universal truth is only known by the individual, who is incapable of knowing that truth until that exact moment that it presents itself. In theory this may be an efficient manner of policing oneself, but this is not a practical solution to governing groups or societies. Societies or groups must create
The form is everlasting therefore meaning it is in a different reality. So to Plato we gain true objective knowledge through a priori because our senses disguising the truth. To Plato the realm of the forms is more important than the realm of appearances because the forms have an unchanging nature which makes them in many ways more real. The things we see in our world are only shadows of the forms, meaning we don’t see the whole object/truth but only an outline. An example of this is the concept of beauty.
Book II commences with a discussion of moral virtues. What are virtues? The Greek term for ‘virtue’ is traditionally rendered as arete, which means something analogous to ‘goodness’ or ‘excellence’. Aristotle distinguishes between two descriptions of excellences, intellectual and moral. Intellectual virtues concern only what Aristotle describes as the rational part of the soul, whilst moral virtues involve both the rational and desiring part of the soul.