Aristotle developed the philosophy of virtue ethics, which focuses on developing virtuous character traits through practice. According to Aristotle, practicing honesty, courage, justice and other virtues leads one to naturally make ethical choices when facing moral dilemmas. Aristotle identified two types of virtues - intellectual virtues like prudence and wisdom, and moral/ethical virtues developed through habit. He believed the intellectual virtues guide us to ethical ends, while ethical virtues direct our will. Aristotle taught that virtue is a golden mean between excess and deficiency, and that true happiness comes from living according to reason by cultivating virtue.

1. ARISTOTLE: VIRTUE AND ETHICS

2. ARISTOTLE
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher
and polymath during the Classical
period in Ancient Greece. Taught by
Plato, he was the founder of the
Peripatetic school of philosophy
within the Lyceum and the wider
Aristotelian tradition.

3. ARISTOTLE
He made pioneering contributions to all
fields of philosophy and science, he
invented the field of formal logic, and
he identified the various scientific
disciplines and explored their
relationships to each other. Aristotle
was also a teacher and founded his
own school in Athens, known as the
Lyceum

4. VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other
ancient Greeks. It is the quest to understand and live a life of
moral character. This character-based approach to morality
assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By practicing
being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person
develops an honorable and moral character. According to
Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make
the right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

5. VIRTUE ETHICS
To illustrate the difference among three key moral philosophies,
ethicists Mark White and Robert Arp refer to the film The Dark Knight
where Batman has the opportunity to kill the Joker. Utilitarians,
White and Arp suggest, would endorse killing the Joker. By taking
this one life, Batman could save multitudes. Deontologists, on the
other hand, would reject killing the Joker simply because it’s wrong
to kill. But a virtue ethicist “would highlight the character of the
person who kills the Joker. Does Batman want to be the kind of
person who takes his enemies’ lives?” No, in fact, he doesn’t.

6. VIRTUE ETHICS
So, virtue ethics helps us understand what it
means to be a virtuous human being. And,
it gives us a guide for living life without
giving us specific rules for resolving ethical
dilemmas.

7. VIRTUES ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
Intellectual Virtues
The virtues of the rational part of the soul
Practical reason: prudence
Theoretical reason: wisdom

8. VIRTUES ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
Intellectual Virtues
PRUDENCE (PHRONESIS):
Consists in knowing correctly how to direct the life of man
Assist us in deliberating correctly about the true aims of man:
it points out the suitable means to the achievement of true
goals

9. VIRTUES ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
Intellectual Virtues
PRUDENCE (PHRONESIS):
Practical wisdom (Greek phronesis; sometimes translated
‘prudence’), says Aristotle, is ‘a reasoned capacity to act with regard
to the things that are good or bad for man’ (Nicomachean Ethics
VI.5). So while practical wisdom involves knowledge of what is good
or bad, it is not merely theoretical knowledge, but a capacity to act on
such knowledge as well.

10. VIRTUES ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
Intellectual Virtues
WISDOM: (EXPERIENCES, PROPER &
REASONABLE, UNDERSTANDABLE)
The most elevated dianoetic virtue
It regards those things that are higher than man: e.g.
theoretical sciences, metaphysics.

11. VIRTUES ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE
Moral/Ethical Virtues
Derive from attitudes in us (habituation)
E.g. by carrying out acts of courage we
easily bring in completion the acts of courage

12. Correlation between Intellectual and
Ethical Virtues
“For virtue makes us aim at the right mark, and practical wisdom
makes us take the right means.”
Intellectual virtues points out the suitable means but they do not point
out the ends themselves
The true ends and aims are grasped by the ethical virtues that directs
the will in the correct way
“It is not possible to be virtuous without prudence or to be wise without
ethical virtues.”

13. Ethical Virtues
Virtue of character is a mean, …, it is a mean between two vices, one of excess and
one of deficiency; and that it is such because it is the sort of thing able to hit the
mean in feelings and actions.
This is why it is hard to be good, because in each case it is hard to find the middle
point; for instance, not everyone can find the center of a circle, but only the person
with knowledge.
So too anyone can get angry, or give and spend money – these are easy; but doing
them in relation to the right person, in the right amount, at the right time, with the
right aim in view, and in the right way – that is not something anyone can do, nor it is
easy. This is why excellence in these things is rare, praiseworthy and noble.”

14. The Golden Mean
The morally good persons live a life of moderation, the
“mean” between two extreme type of actions
The life of moderation is one that:
Avoids the excesses and the deficiencies of behavior
Is governed by reason
Is not directed by uncontrollable desires and passion

15. PLEASURE
Pleasure accompanies every activity and brings it to perfection.
Which pleasures are good?
Those which have good sources (even bodily pleasures are
good up to some point - temperance)
The only real pleasures are those of the virtuous person.
Pleasure crowns the virtuous life and is the necessary
consequence of which virtue is the antecedent

16. HAPPINESS (Eudaimonia)
It is not merely a subjective state of pleasure or contentment
but the kind of life we would all want to live if we understood
our essential nature.
Our function (essence) is to live according to reason and
thereby become a certain sort of highly rational being.
When we fulfill the ideal of living the virtuous life, we are truly
happy.
Happy life is directed toward worthwhile goals.

17. THE GOOD LIFE
“Activity of the soul in accordance with virtue,
and if there are more than one virtue, in
accordance with the best and most complete.”
The best and most complete virtue is to be
found in intellectual virtues

18. Any Questions?
Thank you!