Transcript Modern Scholars, Virtuous People and Strengths and Weaknesses

Modern Scholars, Virtuous
People and Strengths and
Weaknesses
Lesson Objectives
To understand the example of virtuous people
To understand the modern developments and
perspectives on virtue theory
To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of
virtue theory
The Examples of virtuous
people
• Another area of virtue ethics is to model behaviour
on people whom we may consider virtuous
• If you are an aspiring football player you can study
the skills and expertise of a good player and try to
copy them
• There is great diversity between virtuous people
e.g.. Ghandi and Bob Geldof
• Virtuous role models are not perfect e.g.. Princess
Dianna but we can follow her good examples
• Role models could also be fictitious e.g. Harry
Potter
• People with faith may follow Jesus or The prophet
Muhammad
• Young Christians sometimes wear wristbands
withWWJD on. What would Jesus do? To
encourage them to be more like him.
Is it possible we could be
wrong about some people we
consider virtuous?
Mother Teresa?
Jesus?
Homework – revision of
everything done this year for
mock.
Alasdair MacIntyre
British Philosopher born 1929He re-examined the work of Aristotle and was
really impressed with what he found and really
alarmed at the fact this kind of approach to
morality had been ignored and overlooked by
western philosophy.
He set about developing a virtue theory for
modern readers. In his influential book ‘After
Virtue’ (1981) he argued that we live today in
ethical confusion a type of moral vacuum where
to use moral language such as good, bad, right
and wrong no longer makes any sense.
He urges people to consider why it is that human beings
seem utterly incapable of coming to enough basic
agreement in matters of ethics to enable us to deal with the
moral chaos that surrounds us. MacIntyre argues forcibly
that society needs to reassert Aristotle’s moral and
intellectual virtues in society ie in medicine, education,
politics and business.
Activity
• Create a mind map outlining the different
approaches to virtue from these modern
philosophers
Anscombe
Slote
Taylor
Modern
virtue
theory
Hursthouse
MacIntyre
Foot
Remember your virtue theory scholars
with the following: ASTHMA
• Aristotle
• Slote
• Taylor
• Hurthouse
• MacIntyre
• Anscombe
Strengths and Weakness
• Cut out the cards and put them into
two columns strengths and
weaknesses
Strengths
Weaknesses
Virtue Ethics avoids having to use a formula to work out
what we ought to do and focuses on the kind of person
we ought to be.
It is good to be biased in favour of friends and family –
impartiality is not considered a virtue.
Virtue Ethics tells us how we learn moral principles and
involves our entire life – every moment is an opportunity
for developing a virtue
Virtue ethics depends on a ‘final end’ which gives shape
to our lives – there may not be one and being virtuous
may not affect it anyway.
It stresses the importance of character – someone who
helps the poor out of compassion is morally superior to
someone who helps out of moral duty.
It is difficult to decide who is virtuous, as acts which
appear virtuous on the outside may not necessarily
have good motives and vice-versa.
Virtue Ethics understands the need to distinguish good
people from legalists. Just because someone obeys the
law and follows rules does not make them a good
person.
How can virtues be fully identified? Are they culturally
relative?
Virtue Ethics allows us to combine many aspects of our
lives, e.g. our commitment to others, our friends, social
responsibilities. It looks at what makes life worthwhile
rather than what is right or wrong in a particular
situation.
Virtue Ethics seems to praise some virtues that may be
seen as immoral (for example soldiers fighting unjust
wars might still be courageous, but this does not make
them morally good)
Virtue Ethics does not offer an entire solution to the
question ‘how can I be good?’ Instead it encourages us
to develop into a person who does not need ethical
theories to tell us how to behave.
Virtue Ethics does not consider basic concepts such as
rights and obligations, so it could be seen as incapable
of dealing with big issues – you cannot use it to decide
whether an act is right or wrong
Applying Virtue Ethics to moral dilemmas can be
difficult. It does not help people facing a crisis as it does
no give any clear rules for action
Homework
• Exam Question: