VIRTUE ETHICS

By: Atty Rem Beryl Y. Veloso

Parnter of Villordon Veloso Canete Law Offices
Punong Barangay of Barangay Linao
 Virtue Ethics

 Is the ethical framework that is concerned with understanding the good as a

matter of developing the virtuous character of a person.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
 Aristotle begins his discussion of ethics by showing that every Act that a
person does is directed toward a particular purpose, aim or telos.
 There is a purpose why does something, and for Aristotle, a person’s action
manifests a good that she aspires for.
 Every pursuit of a person hopes to achieve a good.
 One must understand that an individual does actions and pursuits in life and
correspondingly each of these activities has different aims.
 Aristotle is aware that one does an act not only to achieve a particular
purpose but also believes such purpose can be utilized for a higher goal or
activity, which can then be used to achieve an even higher purpose.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
 With the Condition that there is a hierarchy of telos. Aristotle then asks about
the highest purpose, which the ultimate good of a human being.
 General Criteria of the highest good:
 A. must be final
 B. must be self-sufficient
 What is the ultimate goal? HAPPINESS. Happiness is both the final end and the
self-sufficient.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Happiness and Ultimate Purpose
 How does a person arrive at her highest good?
 Answer? One must investigate how she functions which enables her to achieve
her ultimate purpose. If she performs her function well, then she is capable
of arriving at her happiness.
 For humans is her function or activity of REASON. What defines a person
therefore is her function or activity of reason. A person’s action to be
considered as truly human must be an act that is always in accordance to
reason.
 What distinguishes a good person from other human beings is her rational
activity that is performed well or excentlly. A good individual therefore stands
closer to meeting the conditions of happiness because her actions are of a
higher purpose.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue as Excellence
 Achieving the highest purpose of a human person concerns the ability to
function according to reason and to perform an activity well or excellently.
 This excellent way of doing things is called virtue or arête by the Greeks.
 By being virtuous cannot be accomplished by a single act. But one should be
careful in judgment of calling immediately that individual as being a person
of virtue. Being an excellent individual works on doing well in her day to day
existence.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue as Excellence
 What makes a human being excellent?
 One needs to understand the very structure of a person’s soul which must be
directed by her rational activity in an excellent way.
 Division of Human Soul: rational and irrational
 Irrational Element consists of the: vegetative and appetitive aspect
 Rational consists of the: moral and intellectual aspect
 Two ways to achieve intellectual excellence Philosophic Wisdom and Practical
Wisdom
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue as Excellence
 Although the condition of being excellent can be attained by a person through
the intellectual aspect of the soul, this situation does not make her into a
morally good individual.
 In carrying out a morally virtuous life, one needs the intellectual guide of
practical wisdom in steering the self toward the right choices and actions.
 Having practical wisdom or the excellence in knowing what to act upon does
not make someone already morally virtuous.
 Knowing the good is different from determining and acting on what is good.
But a morally good person has to achieve the intellectual virtue of practical
wisdom to the perform the task of being moral.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue as Excellence
 In discussing moral virtue, Aristotle says that it is attained by means of habit.
 A morally virtuous man for Aristotle is someone who habitually determines the
good and does the right actions.
 Moral Virtue is acquired through habit.
 A moral person habitually chooses the good and consistently does good deeds.
 It is in this constant act of choosing and doing the good that a person is able
to form her character.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Moral Virtue and Mesotes
 However, when practical wisdom guides the conduct of making morally right
choices and actions, what does it identify as the proper and right thing to do?
 It is in the middle or mesotes that is aimed at by a morally virtuous person.
Determing the middle becomes the proper tool by which one can arrive at the
proper way of doing things.
 A morally virtuous person is concerned with achieving her appropriate action
in a manner that is neither excessive nor deficient.
 In other words virtue is the middle or the intermediary point in between
extremes.
 But the rightness or wrongness of feelings, passion, and abilities lies in the
degree of their application in a given situation.
 VIRTUE ETHICS
Moral Virtue and Mesotes
 Moral virtue is firstly the condition arrived at by a person who has the
character identified out of her habitual exercise of particular actions.
 Secondly,The action done that normally manifests feelings and passions is
chosen in the middle.
 Aristotle’s middle is not relative to the person but to the situation and the
circumstance that one is in.
 Thirdly, the rational faculty that serves as a guide for the proper
identification of the middle is practical wisdom as it learns from the
experiences and develops the capacity to know the proper way of carrying out
of her feelings.
 However, when what is involved is seen as bad the middle is non-existent
because there is no good in something that is already considered bad.