The Ancient Greek Notion Of Virtue Ethics

Aristotle outlined his theory of Virtue Ethics in his book Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle focused his idea of ethics on agents rather than acts. His main idea is focused on the idea of human character- how can you be a better person? In fact, Aristotle once said: “For we are enquiring not in order to know what virtue is, but in order to become good, since otherwise our enquiry would be of no use.” Aristotle is given the credit for developing the idea of virtue ethics, but many of Plato's cardinal values influenced his ideas. Virtue Ethics is focused on the person's actions, not the consequences of that action. Aristotle believed if you had good moral values, then your actions would be "good" in theory. Rather than defining good actions,

Virtue Theory is one of many different moral theories that exist today. It is based off of Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics which focuses on having an ideal character. The main focus of Virtue Theory is the role of one’s character, which is closely related to its roots in Aristotle. A Virtue Theorist would do things because it is who they themselves are, not because it is good to do them or because they will get something good from doing them.

Virtue ethics is a theory of ethics in moral philosophy in which it emphasizes that the notion of virtue is key to a

The Virtue Theory, also know as Virtue Ethics, refers to the character of each person. This theory states that every person should try for excellence. The characteristics of each individual are made up from their environment that they are a part of. The theory would further suggest

The first theory I will compare virtue ethics against is ethical egoism. The two theories share a commonality apart from being normative in nature. They both seek what is best for the doer. Aristotle claimed that happiness is ultimately attained by striving for the “function of man” which is the excellence found within virtue. This is comparable to ethical egoism because of it’s principle of exclusively acting in one’s own best interest. While virtue ethics states that a virtuous character is the goal, ethical egoism is not specific to what is in a person’s best interest. If attaining a virtuous character is

Virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches in ethics. This approach of ethics emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to other approaches which emphasizes duties or rules. Virtue ethics has three central concepts; virtue, practical wisdom, and eudemonia, however, these are often misunderstood. The three approaches of ethics are virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics, and deontology ethics. Each approach provides a different way to understanding ethics.

At the beginning of Meno Socrates and Meno are discussing what they think the true definition of virtue is. They debate over this matter for quite some time and Meno continues to throw definitions, of what he thinks virtue is, at Socrates. It seems like every time Meno would come up with what he thought virtue was Socrates would shoot it down. Socrates would not come out and say this is not right, he would merely ask him a series of questions in order for Meno to realize it on his own. One after another Socrates continues to find problems with Meno's reasoning behind his definitions. After the fourth attempt they finally decide they would try to start over with a clean slate in order to find out what virtue truly is. At this point

In the Republic of Plato, the philosopher Socrates lays out his notion of the good, and draws the conclusion that virtue must be attained before one can be good. For Socrates there are two kinds of virtue; collective and individual. Collective virtue is virtue as whole, or the virtues of the city. Individual virtue pertains to the individual himself, and concerns the acts that the individual does, and concerns the individual’s soul. For Socrates, the relationship between individual and collective virtue is that they are the same, as the virtues of the collective parallel those of the Individual. This conclusion can be reached as both the city and the soul deal with the four main virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice.

Virtue Theory relies heavily on the character of the person rather than the circumstances in which the individual acts. The virtue theory deemphasizes rules and regulations and instead focuses on the internal character of the act in question. The virtue theory is not concerned with the intentions of the act. Nor is it concerned primarily with the consequences of the act. Instead the virtue theory relies on moral virtues. If the individual is of good character or not is the primary concern with virtue theory. What is difficult to ascertain however, is the question of what constitutes character? How can one appropriate establish the contents of one's character? A person's character traits are the compesition of his character traits. These traits can either be good (virtuous) or bad (vices). In both instances, the virtue theory establishes and emphasized these two

Aristotle found that there are two kinds of virtues of the soul. First, there are virtues of thought, such as wisdom. Next, there are virtues of character, such as generosity. The main focus of his virtue ethics lies in the virtues of character. Aristotle assumed that these virtues are learned through habit. For example, whereas intellectual virtue may arise from reading a book, the adoption of virtuous character is inherited solely by practice. Therefore, it is through a person's upbringing that moral virtues are cultivated, and it is through the habit of thinking virtuously that one can excel towards happiness.

In Ancient times, there were three Virtues that the Greeks thought had great importance in the way they lived their daily lives, and on how they fought on the battlefield, and they were Metis, Heroism, and Respect. Greeks believed that with Metis, or wisdom, was a necessity for winning on the battlefield. They even had a god dedicated to this belief, the god being Athena. Heroism, the second virtue, was important because Heroes were revered almost as much as the gods themselves in ancient Greece. The final virtue, Respect, was important to them in differentiating between social statuses and Army ranks. Together, these three virtues molded Greece into what it is known for today.

What is Aristotle’s virtue ethics theory exactly? Aristotle was one of the first to describe this type of theory and he based it largely on Eudaimonism. “Eudaimonism bases virtues in human flourishing, where flourishing is equated with performing one’s distinctive function well” (Virtue Ethics). For humans, Aristotle believed that our main function is reasoning and to “live well” we would need to reason well. The largest part of virtue ethics is the titular “virtues” that decide whether or not a person was truly flourishing or not.

Virtue ethics is a theory that focuses on character development and what virtues one should obtain to be who they are supposed to be, as oppose to actions. An example of virtue ethics would be someone who is patient, kind, loving, generous, temperance, courage and flourishing as oppose to a person who lies, cheats, and

There are many strengths and weaknesses to virtue ethics that can be discussed, but they both have a main strength and weakness that could be talked about. One primary strength of virtue ethics is character traits this is how we use are virtues to help other people and make them better. People should have respect, love, and compassion for one another these are what a person should have in them innately to help others out because it’s the way you are instead of doing just because you should. The main weakness of virtue ethics that people argue is that it does not have focus of what is supposed to be morally right and wrong in the first place even though we know that something like murder is not moral virtue ethics doesn’t really ask this question.

Socrates’ sense of virtue, as established in Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Crito, and Symposium collectively, revolves around the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and justice, all in an effort to benefit the soul rather than the physical body. Given that this oftentimes contradicts standard values of honor and beauty, Socrates is targeted by many of those around him who oppose his ideas and ways of thinking, especially since the youth begin to criticize the elders’ concern for the trappings of honor and beauty rather than for interior virtues. Unlike Socrates’ case, Aeneas’ sense of virtue complies with the standard societal definition, emphasizing pietas, or respect for the gods and dedication to family and community. In his efforts to