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Aristotle/Virtue Theory Basics. Do agent based theories avoid the problems of action-based deontological and consequentialist theory?. Central Elements of Aristotle’s Theory.
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Aristotle/Virtue Theory Basics Do agent based theories avoid the problems of action-based deontological and consequentialist theory?
Central Elements of Aristotle’s Theory Aristotle’s theory is eudaemonist: Actions are done to promote the agent’s own good. A person’s good is happiness (sometimes also called flourishing or well being). However, a person’s good is dependent upon doing morally good actions. This means benefitting others for their own sake (at times). As Williams and others put it, the question Kant or the utilitarians start with is “what should I do.” Aristotle begins with the question “what kind of person should I be?” The theory concentrates on the character of the moral agent.
Differences Between Virtue Theory and Kantian and Utilitarian Theory Kant/Deontological Theory: The right is prior to the good. (Happiness isn’t necessarily good; Some aren’t worthy to be happy.) Consequentialism: The right is derived from the good. (The right thing to do is to promote the good.) Virtue Theory: To know what’s right, we have to look to the agent. The right thing is what the virtuous agent chooses to do. {There is no direct concept of the right/recht in Aristotle though. Morality does not derive from laws for Aristotle as it does for Kant.}
Other differences: Happiness Being virtuous is what is best for a person. Mill does not argue that acting rightly is crucial for happiness. Aristotle’s idea of the content of happiness is different than Mill’s. Mill regards happiness as pleasure. For Aristotle, happiness is the highest good. Aristotle also suggests that we can’t know if someone is happy/eudaemon until her life is over. One way to interpret that is that she won’t know how her projects turned out. Aristotle’s view of eudaemonia appears to be objective in a way that Mill’s notion of happiness is subjective. You aren’t happy if you think you are happy for Aristotle. You might be wrong because you might have failed to achieve the human good.
Relation of Virtue to Happiness Virtue=Settled character traits that require emotions to be in a mean and the action that results is in line with what the person rationally chooses. Examples of virtue are: Generosity, courage, temperance. A good person has the virtues. Socrates: Virtue is both necessary and sufficient for happiness. Aristotle: Virtue is necessary but not sufficient. Virtue alone will not make you happy—e.g., if you were being tortured on the rack. One main question: How does virtue lead to the best life?
The Function Argument The function argument says that we can arrive at a better sense of happiness by looking at the human function. 1. 1097b25-8: If S has function F then the good of S depends on F. 2. If human beings have a function, it will be their special kind of life. 3. 1097b34-1098a2: Their special kind of life is a life of action according to reason. 4. Hence their function is a life of action according to reason. (assumed in 1098a7) 5. 1098a7-12: If S has function F then a good (virtuous) S does does F well. 6. 1098a15-16. S’s doing F according to virtue is S’s good. 7. 1098a16-17: Hence the human good is living well, i.e., living according to virtue. (From T. Irwin, Aristotle’s First Principles.)
Function argument If you want to know what a good anything is, you look at the purpose of that thing. (E.g., if you want to know what a good knife is, you look at the purpose of a knife). This is the same with living creatures. A fish that can swim well functions well. So swimming well is essential for a fish to function. If you want to know what is good for a person, you look at what is distinctive to a person. People take in nutrition and grow but this is also true of plants. People have perception but this is also true of animals. What’s distinctive to humans is that they reason. So the function of a human being is to reason well.
