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Learning objective

Learning objective. To know and understand the strengths of virtue ethics. Key words Non-normative Humanistic Liberal. Key question What is a virtue?. ONE : NON-NORMATIVE. Virtue theory is non-normative. It does not give a prescriptive rule of laws that you should follow.

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Learning objective

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  1. Learning objective • To know and understand the strengths of virtue ethics Key words Non-normative Humanistic Liberal Key question What is a virtue?

  2. ONE : NON-NORMATIVE • Virtue theory is non-normative. It does not give a prescriptive rule of laws that you should follow. • This gives more freedom to the individual and the agent is in complete control of their own morality. • People are able to create their own laws for living. • Rather than looking for rules it looks at what it is to be human.

  3. ONE : NON-NORMATIVE • This freedom is essential for a person to flourish. • Without being able to choose what to do and take control of their own lives a person cannot exercise the intellectual virtues and cannot become moral. • It is for a person to make the choice to find the right thing to do.

  4. ONE: NON-NORMATIVE • Examples • What idea of freedom does this tie into? • Who said that absolute freedom is difficult to cope with?

  5. two: culturally relative • Aristotle said that virtues are culturally relative. • Virtues are specific to a culture and one set of virtues may not fit correctly with another culture. • This means that no one culture is superior to another – all cultures are morally equivalent.

  6. two : culturally relative • This is beneficial for our society because it means that any society in the world can use virtue ethics. • They just need to identify their goals for themselves and work out the correct virtues. • Examples: can you think of a virtue that is relevant for us today?

  7. three : liberal and accepts mistakes • Virtue theory takes into consideration the whole person. • They are therefore, not judged simply on one mistake rather their whole life is taken into consideration. • As long as you are making an effort to change your personality and are attempting to practise the virtues then you are doing the right thing. • Mistakes are tolerated.

  8. three : liberal and accepts mistakes • As a person develops they move through different stages of life. • It is possible for a person to move from vicious to virtuous over the course of their life. • It is therefore has a positive view of human nature. It is concerned with reform and the view that a person can change their very nature.

  9. Four : humanistic • Virtue theory does not seek justification for its morality from an absolute source. • It does not need a God to justify why to be moral. • Rather it gets its backing from humans and is therefore, a humanistic theory. • this means that it has a lot of attraction for non-religious people.

  10. Four : humanistic • Anybody can follow this theory. • It has great potential in British society where there is a moral vacuum caused by the decline in religion and rise in postmodernism. • The more people that become virtuous the better our society will become. • It can also give direction and guidance to those that are lost, adrift in empty space.

  11. five : fits in with a religious point of view • As well as being humanistic it also allows for a religious understanding of the theory. • As you can choose for your virtuous example a religious person or you can be educated in religious virtues. • Because it focuses on the type of person you should be a person could aim to be more “Christ-like” • As well as that many of the modern concepts of virtue have come from Christian writers and commentators over the years. • examples

  12. five : fits in with a religious point of view • The important acronym for a Christian, WWJD becomes important here. • What would Jesus do? • A Christian can therefore stay a Christian but also be interested in virtue and seek to maximise the virtues that Christianity cherish.

  13. five : fits in with a religious point of view • In addition the synergy created between Christian theology and Aristotelian thought by Aquinas demonstrates shows an important relationship between the two theories. • Virtue is essential for modern Christian thought. • Virtues of compassion, faith, patience, love and forgiveness are essential to its sense of morality.

  14. review • Non-normative • Culturally relative • Liberal • Humanistic • Fits in with religion

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