According to Aristotle, virtue, or doing virtuous acts, is the method by which we obtain the only true end in life — that is, happiness. Virtue is doing the right thing, the right way. The right way includes the right amount, at the right time and for the right reason. There is no single way to determine what is right, as it is dependent on the situation, as well as the person acting. The amount of anger needed in a situation to defend one’s honor is certainly more than is required when responding to a petty annoyance. The moral virtue that Aristotle discussed is specifically concerned with our appetites or our irrational parts. Aristotle taught that virtue is the mean between two vices for any given action. This is not the mathematical mean, …show more content…
Aristotle explained, “the same causes and the same means that produce any excellence or virtue can also destroy it.”(Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 1103b7) He believed that it was the mean that preserved virtue. He taught that we are not born virtuous, but we have the means in all of us to become virtuous individuals. We obtain virtue by practicing it. However, if we do not practice it correctly (the right thing, the right way, the right amount, at the right time, and for the right reason), the virtue is destroyed. For it is in doing it incorrectly that we are practicing not the virtue, but the vice. Think of the example already used: courage. If we face fear with a healthy amount of courage, we become courageous. But if, in attempting to be courageous, we practice recklessness, we lose the virtue of courage. For further examples, consider self control. The deficiency, or lack of self control would be self indulgence, where the excess would be ‘insensitive,’ (to use Aristotle’s word). Both would be a vice. The vices for generosity would be stinginess or extravagance, while the vices for gentleness would be to be short tempered or apathetic. For every virtue, there is one way to do it correctly, and many ways to do it incorrectly. (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II,
In Aristotle 's Nicomachean Ethics, the basic idea of virtue ethics is established. The most important points are that every action and decision that humans make is aimed at achieving the good or as Aristotle 's writes, “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at the good... (Aristotle 1094a). Aristotle further explains that this good aimed for is happiness.
Aristotle further divided his thought on ethics into two categories, intellectual virtue and moral/social/political virtue. With respect to his views on moral virtue, Aristotle developed a doctrine that showed that virtue is staying in the mean, the doctrine of the mean. “The moral virtue is a mean…” (Aristotle 109). This doctrine claimed that having the right amount of a characteristic would be virtuous and most often is in between having too much or too little of ...
... individuals interpret human experience in different ways and thus interpret virtues in different ways. This means that virtue ethics cannot be an objective and universal theory. This, consequently, causes Aristotelian virtue ethics to be an unpractical and unsuccessful moral theory in reality. This is because there cannot be an agreed consensus of what is the actual mean, the virtue, between the vices of deficiency and excess.
On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com. ———. "
While readers can agree virtue is a trait one must obtain, opinions bifurcate how one does so. Some people surmise that by simply avoiding evil, one is virtuous; others reckon that one must do good in addition to avoiding evil to acquire virtue.
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that virtue and happiness come from achieving the moral mean. The moral mean is the midpoint between deficiency and excess in any particular behavior. For example, the moral mean of recklessness and cowardice is courage. In matters of ple...
...importance of virtue here is that, virtues are needed for living well; But in order to obtain
Virtue, then deals with those feelings and actions in which it is wrong to go too far and wrong to fall too short but in which hitting the mean is praiseworthy and good….
In Book II, Aristotle makes a distinction between two types of virtues; those which are considered ethical and those which are considered intellectual. Ethical virtues deal with actions of courage, generosity, and moderation. Intellectual virtues deal with wisdom and contemplation. Ethical virtues are created through habitual actions. Aristotle says that humans are not born with a natural capacity for virtue. He believes that education and cultivation as youth by one’s parents are pivotal in setting up humans’ ability in making virtuous acts habitual. He feels that humans have to perform virtuous actions as much as possible and through this humans can make a step in becoming virtuous. Aristotle also states that ethical virtues have to be attended by pleasure. He believes that humans cannot be pained when committing a virtuous action. If a human is pained by an action then it is not considered virtuous.
The virtues defined by Aristotle consist of two extremes or vices, the excess and the deficiency. The mean or the intermediate between the excess and the deficiency is the virtue. One virtue Aristotle explains is bravery, with its vices being rashness and cowardice. Each aspect of these is contrary to the others, meaning that the intermediate opposes the extreme. Similarly, one extreme opposes the mean and its other extreme. The implications of this are that the excess opposes the deficiency more than the mean. This causes the mean to sometimes resemble its neighboring extreme. Obtaining the mean involves the challenge of being excellent. The challenging part, however, is “doing it to the right person, in the right amount, at the right time, for the right end, and in the right way” (Nicomachean Ethics 1109a28-29:29). Fortunately, one can steer themselves to the mean if one is conscious of the extreme they are naturally inclined to go towards. Since everybody is uniquely different the means by which one steers themselves in the right direction is different for each individual. In addition, Aristotle names three requirements for an action to be a virtue. First one must be cons...
One of the desirability of virtue ethics is the elasticity to measure each situation independently, searching for action guidance in bearing in mind what a naturally virtuous person would do. This would be clarified and informed by the pertinent facts and personal ethical sensitivities of that situation. This permits and heartens creative resolutions to very difficult problems, which may be harder to disc...
Aristotle’s “doctrine of the mean,” I believe, may shed some light on the nature of moral virtues (virtues of character). The doctrine of the mean can tell us some things about moral virtues, but I would also that the doctrine of the mean ultimately creates a rather unhelpful and overly simplistic concept of morality. More than anything, I think the doctrine of the mean tells us more about Aristotle than the nature of moral virtues. First, we should define the terms we are discussing. When Aristotle talked about “moral virtue,” he considered it a state of character— character as opposed to “virtues of intellect” (which Aristotle also talked about). The doctrine of the mean is Aristotle’s analytical model for determining how people can best
Aristotle, argued that he could not judge a person on the basis of one example and wanted to look at the whole over time. Additionally he argued virtue was found between the extremes of each characteristic. Balance between the extremes of emotion was his main concern (Manning and Stroud 59). Virtue ethics requires one to strive for excellence, a process that happens over a long period of time. It includes learning about ethics, struggling with them, and eventually living ethically (Class
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our actions. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how. you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life, are very happy and have a sense of well-being.
Aristotle then shifts to asking the question that we might feel we are already good people because we are already acting in a just manner. Aristotle disagrees with this. He brings up an example of an artist and shows that the skill of the artist is in what he creates. It is over once the art has been made. Virtue is different. The end does not fully matter, but also needs to be in a good state of mind. We should always want to act in a virtuous way. We can only make it to this by creating habits in living a virtuous life. He also brings up that speeches could make people think they are becoming more virtuous, but it will not do anything. Aristotle then discusses what virtue is. It must be in passions, capacities, or characteristics within the soul. Passions have to do with pleasures and pain, capacities are what helps us understand our