Virtue ethics- Aristotle
assignment: ros-398-399 poj-121-134 extra credit #34-37 on the exam due final class date.
*What distinguishes virtue ethics from what we have been studying is instead of identifying what makes a single act right or wrong you find the characteristic of the ideally good person.
*Once you figure out who the ideal person is, their characteristics can be identified and the rest will follow.
*arete=excellence
*Aristotle doesn't really distinguish between success and morality.
*A successful person and a good person are no different.
*The goal of morality is successful living.EUDAIMONIA=successful living (just may be on the test)
*What does a successful person need? Aristotle says a life of contemplation-intellectual activity (can we see shades of mill? higher and lower pleasures??)
*Human nature=rational animals
All things have a nature. A rocks nature is to just sit there be hard and rocklike. It is in a plants nature to grow and reproduce. An animal has the nature of the plant with the addition of movement. Man has all the traits of animals plus the nature of being rational.
*Our purpose in life has to do with rationality and philosophical pursuits.
On top of the above it doesn't hurt to have social life, health, good looks, and money. You must have a minimal level of living condition to be a possessor of the good life and embody the "desired virtues".
*SIDENOTE* I questioned if either Plato or Aristotle were held in higher esteem than the other. the response: Plato is the nutty mystic, Aristotle is real down to earth.
*A character trait is something we are dispositioned to act like. Example miserly, liar, types are predisposed to certain behavioral habits.
*virtues are good behavior habits which lead to success.We worked with some scales of virtues which demonstrate the polarities and where the mean would be located at to achieve the desired results.

General scale
The mean should be nearer temperance. Overindulgence in short term pleasures is dangerous: gluttony drunkenness.

____________I___________________________
temperance syberite
moderation overindulgence


Courage scale
*Aristotle was a tutor of alexander the great

___________I_____________________
foolhardness cowardice
stupidity deficiency
excess


Pride scale
This differs with christianity in the sense that humility is a virtue for christians, and pride is a virtue with aristotle. Take pride and revel in your accomplishment, not exaggeratingg.

_________________I____________
humility bragger
never takes big ego
credit

OBJECTION-no way to settle disputes mean found by intuity. Aristotle would argue that it is simply common sense.