An introduction to the concept of virtue ethics, prepared for the Initial Ministerial Education programme at the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England

1. Some observations to ponder
 ‘Prudence is an ugly old maid courted by
Incapacity’
 Blake, Marriage of Heaven and Hell
 The origin of ‘virtue’ in vir, a man
 Cognate with ‘virile’
 Virtue is its own reward
 We are human beings not human doings

2. What We Take for Granted
 Ethics is about laws…
 … that regulate action, and are…
 …derived from human nature [= the ethicist’s
nature]
 Kant: moral action is rational action
 Bentham: moral action is that which tends to create
pleasure or avoid pain
 Morality is in conflict with our natural
inclinations
 Kant: only that which we do from duty is moral
 Bentham: laws are needed to stop us pursuing our
OWN utility regardless of others

3. Ethics Europe / N America last
500 yrs
 Typical laws vary very little
 Keep promises
 Less violence
 Protect the weak
 Support social institutions
 Foundation derived from introspection
 Characteristic human passions (Hume / Diderot)
 Reason (Kant)
 Preference for pleasure over pain (Bentham)
 Fundamental characteristics of decision-making
(Kierkegaard)
 Rawls (what we would if we didn’t know who we were)
 [but isn’t who we are rather important?]

4. Nietzsche
 Revolts against smug law-givers
 Ethics distorts true humanity
 Ethics a tool of the weak to gain power over
the strong
 1960s =Watered down Nietzsche
 Go with the flow
 Let it all hang out
 Be yourself
 [but who, pray, am I?]
 But Nietzsche agrees with Kant and
Bentham…

5. But there’s always a tension…
Natural
Inclination
Ethical Laws

6. Rediscovery of Virtue Ethics
 Elizabeth Anscombe ‘Modern Moral
Philosophy’ (1958)
 Misunderstands Christian ethics
 BUT rightly puts ‘psychology’ centre stage again
 Morality about
 Character, not
 Actions
 Alasdair Macintyre AfterVirtue (1981)
 Tension between Nature and Law is fatal
 Results from ‘cargo cult’ understanding of moral
terms

7. Aristotle
 ‘What is a good person?’ is
 a BIT like “what is a good hammer?” and
 EVEN MORE like “what is a good carpenter?”
 Virtues are qualities of fully formed / ‘happy’
human character
 Aristotle’s list
 Courage
 Justice
 Prudence
 Temperance
 An idea of right human nature is central
 We may disagree with Aristotle about this
 Reflects his time, place and concept of the good man [sic]

8. The Medieval Synthesis
 Christian and classical thought
 Aristotelian virtues PLUS
 Faith
 Hope
 Love
 UnlikeAristotle
 Universal ethic (not just the polis)
 Inner element is key: can be virtuous whatever happens
 Fully formed human character is
 Revealed in Christ
 Attested in the Bible
 This survives in the CONTENT of subsequent ethics

9. So it’s really like this:
Human
Nature
as it is
now
Practice ofVirtue
True
Human
Nature

10. I blame Descartes
 Knowledge is what we’re after
 And knowledge of a special sort
 Certainty which involves no risk / commitment
 We get it by private thought
 Looking into ourselves
 Alone

11. History of Virtue Ethics
 Aristotle – ‘good human’ depends on what humans are FOR
 Bible / revelation  our notion of what humans are FOR
 Medieval synthesis
 Descartes – asking the wrong questions in the wrong way
 Various goes at reconciling
 Morality derived from human nature as now
 Moral concepts inherited [like cargo cult] from earlier age
 Nietzsche knocks all this into a cocked hat
 Same opposition between ethics and nature
 Resolves in favour of nature
 Anscombe / Macintyre / Hauerwas / Wright / Wells / Welby
 BACKTOTHE FUTURE

12. Virtue Ethics
 Not about laws
 No conflict between
 Right
 Human

13. Virtue Ethics
 Inherently ill-defined
 Fundamentally about
 Character
 not
 Actions
 Based on idea of what fully realised human
nature would be
 Not primarily interested in
 How we treat others
 Hard cases
 Epistemological humility

14. Virtue Ethics
 It’s about
 How we live, not
 What we know
 Rooted in
 Community
 Story
 Calls for
 Commitment
 Responsibility
 We grow into it
 Cultivating Character
 Acquiring habits

15. Biblical Elements
 God created humankind in his image, in the image
of God he created them
 Gen 1:27
 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ
 1 Cor 11:1
 the law of the Spirit if life in ChristJesus has set
you free from the law of sin and of death
 Rom 8:2
 Importance of
 Story
 Community

16. Practical Payoff for Parsons
 What do we DO?
 What do you get from church?
 How square
 Being
 Doing
 What preach on?
 Why read the Bible?