“Outline Aristotle’s theory of Virtue Ethics” Virtue Ethics originates from the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle who focused not on deontological values of actions being intrinsically right or wrong based on their intention, but on how to develop one’s character to meet the demands of what one would describe as virtuous. Central to the theory is the idea of practising qualities and virtues that are established as ‘good’. Virtue ethics is agent-centred as opposed to act-centred and Aristotle maintains that our final aim, as human beings, is to achieve ultimate happiness, which he calls eudaimonia and describes as human flourishing. The Greek word for virtue, arête, means excellence, and so a virtuous character is one with excellent qualities who continually and undeniably continue to make perfect moral decisions. A virtue is defined as a perfect quality that is habitually carried out by an individual which requires practise and dedication so that one may blossom into a virtuous character, “excellence is not an act but a habit.” For Aristotle, something is ‘good’ if it fulfils its purpose: a good knife is one this is sharps and cuts well.
Aristotle draws a distinction between superior and subordinate aims, believing Eudaimonia' is the end goal or purpose behind everything we do as people, and is desired for its own sake and therefore a superior aim. Aristotle also developed the idea of moral and intellectual virtues. The moral values are; courage, temperance, big-heartedness, generosity, high-mindedness, right ambition, patience, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, righteous indignation. The intellectual virtues are; practical skill, knowledge, common sense, intuition, wisdom; resourcefulness, understanding, judgement, cleverness. Aristotle then chose the four cardinal values from these lists, which are; temperance, courage, wisdom and justice.
The following passage from Eudemian Ethics (1235b 13-18) allows us to better comprehend Aristotle’s impression of philosophy, which in turn leads to a better understanding of how he reviews and resolves the aforementioned problem: We must adopt a line of argument which will both best explain to us the views held about these matters and will resolve the difficulties and contradictions; and we shall achieve this if we show that the conflicting views are held with good reason. For such an argument will most closely accord with the agreed facts; and it will allow the conflicting views to be retained if analysis can show that each is partly true and partly false. Ultimately, Aristotle tries to “preserve obvious truths of common sense” while attempting to justify what we see in philosophers paradoxes. To discredit them, he separates the discreditable conclusions from the authentic notions they were built upon, thus disarming the effectiveness of the arguments. The first and most obvious place to look for Aristotle’s view on relativism is Metaphysics I’.
“What is the highest of all goods? It is happiness.” The great Greek philosopher Aristotle developed the normative ethical theory of Virtue Ethics and here argues that happiness is the highest good and what we should all strive to achieve. This theory focuses on the kind of person we should become rather than the actions we should do or avoid and is therefore aretaic. Aretai’ from the Greek essentially means virtue, and this is the heart of Virtue Ethics; that people should concentrate on practicing excellence and being virtuous in order to reach happiness, which is the highest goodness according to Aristotle. Morality is not simply about avoiding the wrong, but is also about doing what is virtuous.
In the platonic theory of Forms, there is a hierarchy of the Forms. In The Republic, Plato states that the highest and most important Form to learn about is The Good. Underneath that are the other forms which are: universal qualities, concepts and ideals, physical living objects and physical inanimate objects. For example Justice, Wisdom and Beauty are aspects of Goodness. However, Goodness is something that Plato has never properly established what The Form of the Good exactly is but we recognise it because we understand how they correspond to our intuitive knowledge of the Form of the Good.
The concept of virtue ethics by the philosopher Aristotle looks at how we should not look at the right and wrong actions we do by following guidelines, but look at us as human beings becoming virtuous people, through doing virtuous things. The statement of the weaknesses of virtue ethics outweighing the strengths is to an extent true, in particular when you look at the limitations of virtue ethics when claiming the doctrine of mean. Firstly by looking at the aim if virtue ethics we can gain an insight to the whole concept, Aristotle claimed that in life our aim is to reach fulfilment of happiness, which he called eudemonia. To achieve eudemonia you have to practice virtues and achieve these virtues, through education, emulation and experience. So we learn the virtue by copying someone who is a role model or mentor to confirm our virtue is right and finally practice and experience said virtue.
Although the idea of social justice based in a social contract is mentioned in Plato's Republic and was known even earlier, the Republic's conception of individual justice is distinctively virtue ethical. To be sure, Plato understands individual justice on analogy with justice “writ large” in the state, but he views the state, or republic, as a kind of organism or beehive, and the justice of individuals is not thought of as primarily involving conformity to just institutions and laws. Rather, the just individual is someone whose soul is guided by a vision of the Good, someone in whom reason governs passion and ambition through such a vision. When, but only when, this is the case, is the soul harmonious, strong, beautiful, and healthy, and individual justice precisely consists in such a state of the soul. Actions are then just if they sustain or are consonant with such harmony.
Aristotle focuses on courage and temperance as the two typical moral virtues which can be described as a mean, then discusses a whole range of minor virtues and vices which can be described as a mean, and only then discusses justice and the intellectual virtues. Aristotle places prudence amongst these intellectual virtues. Aristotle emphasizes throughout all his analyses of virtues that they aim at what is beautiful, effectively equating the good, at least for humans, with the beautiful. Aristotle's analysis of ethics makes use of his metaphysical theory of potentiality and actuality. He defines happiness in terms of this theory as an actuality; the virtues which allow happiness are dynamic-but-stable dispositions which are developed through habituation; and this pleasure in turn is another actuality that compliments the actuality of happy living.
Aristotle says that we are considered to be good when we perform our function well, when we are excellent at our purpose in life. Epictetus presents the same idea, that we should perform our function well as if we are actors in a play, and “…what is [ours] is to play the assigned part well.” Plato speaks of function as our arete, that the human’s arete is to be just, and that justice is the arete of the soul. Reality versus
“CONTEMPLATION” Why is Contemplation so highly regarded by Aristotle when considering what is the best state of leisure, how does this portray in my own individual state of happiness. By understanding Aristotle’s idea of contemplation, can it solve this overall collective dissatisfaction with the way I view my leisure state? Aristotle begins the ethics by stating the activities performed in an individuals life and existence aims at some sort of good. Aristotle exemplifies this through three different explanations of “good” (traditional patterns of life). These are the life of Pleasure, the Political life, and Contemplative life.