This document provides an overview of virtue ethics. It discusses that virtue ethics focuses on the character of the actor rather than just the act itself. It examines what traits make up virtuous versus vicious characters. The strengths of virtue ethics are that it emphasizes the connection between acts and character, and encourages viewing ethical decisions in the context of one's overall character. However, virtue ethics is criticized for potentially being too individualistic and not focusing enough on the good of society. The document also discusses applications of virtue ethics to medicine.

1. Chapter 8
Virtue Ethics

2. • Virtue ethics focuses on the character of the actor instead
of just the act itself
• Considering Character
– An act can be beneficial, but the motivations for the act can
still not be morally good
• We must examine the character and motives of the person
performing the act
– Therefore, the starting point is what characters are virtuous
or vicious
• A virtuous person does right acts for the right motives
The Distinctive Focus of
Virtue Ethics

3. • Strengths
– Emphasizes the strong connection between our acts and our
character
– Encourages us to consider our characters as unified wholes
instead of viewing ethical decisions in isolation
– Creates commitments that lead to more beneficial lives
• Your personal goals are relevant to your character development,
whether those goals are moral or nonmoral
The Strengths of Virtue
Ethics

4. • What Counts as Virtue?
• Aristotle: a genuinely virtuous person is one who achieves
true happiness and satisfaction
• Rosalind Hursthouse and Philippa Foot: virtue is what
promotes human flourishing
• But how do we define “true happiness” or “human
flourishing”?
• Aristotle suggested another guide – The Golden Mean
• Whatever is moderate is right
Criticisms of Virtue
Theory

5. • Virtue Theory and Situationist Psychology
• Much of our behavior is not the result of our characters,
our character traits, and our virtues, but rather is controlled
by the situation in which behavior occurs
• Others claim that situationist experiments are not the best
way to reveal character traits
Criticisms of Virtue
Theory

6. • Virtue Theory and Individualism
• Some object that virtue theory may be too individualistic
• The focus should be on what acts contribute to the good of all
(or at least society)
• Too much emphasis on individual virtue
Criticisms of Virtue
Theory

7. • Virtue and Society
• Which approach is the most basic: the cultivation of your
individual virtue or the benefit of the whole? Which is
more important?
• Are There Multiple Sets of Virtues?
• Do different societies require different virtues?
• Or do we all share a common set of virtues?
Criticisms of Virtue Ethics

8. • Virtue ethics has a wide application to medicine
• Confidentiality
• Medical Beneficence
• The commitment to the good of the patient over one’s own
self-interest
• Example: When physicians refuse to treat AIDS patients because of
the very small risk of infection to them, those physicians betray
medical beneficence
• A Virtuous Medical Hero
• Rwandan doctor refused to abandon disabled patients, even
though staying meant death
• The doctor’s actions may not make utilitarian sense, but they
exemplify an ideal of the medical profession
Virtue Theory and
Medicine

9. • Aristotle
• Wrote an enormous body of work and was influential in
almost every subject of knowledge in the ancient world
• Works addressed logic, biology, metaphysics, ethics, poetry,
and rhetoric
• Nicomachean Ethics
Virtue Ethics