Midterm

Coverage
Coverage

Frameworks and Principles

Behind our Moral Disposition
Frameworks
Coverage
Virtue Ethics
1. Aristotle: Telos
2. Virtue as Habit
3. Happiness as Virtue
4. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Natural Law
5. The Natural Law and its Tenets
Key Concepts of Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

• Ergon (function)
• Eudaimonia (flourishing)
• Arête (excellence or virtue)
• Phronesis (practical or moral wisdom)
Ethics must be Concrete and
Practical

“Virtue ethics focuses on the moral

quality of individuals, or how to be a
good person. Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.):
in order to become a virtuous person
one must develop a virtuous character.”
Aristotle
“The ultimate purpose in studying ethics
is not as it is in other inquiries, the
attainment of theoretical knowledge;
we are not conducting this inquiry in
order to know what virtue is, but in order
to become good, else there would be
no advantage in studying it.” (Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics, Bk, 2, Ch 2)
Eudaimonia
What is this final end, which is our target?

Aristotle’s term is ‘eudaimonia’

• Happiness
• Well-being
• Flourishing
Eudaimonia vs. Happiness
Eudaimonia is standardly translated as "happiness"
or "flourishing" and occasionally as "well-being.“

"flourishing" - animals and even plants can flourish

but eudaimonia is possibly only for rational beings.

"happiness“ – in modern understanding it connotes

something which is subjectively determined. It is for
me, not for you, to pronounce on whether I am
happy. But according to classical thinkers I may
have wrong idea about what eudaimonia is and
therefore think that I am have eudaimon but I fact I
don’t.
Eudaimonia vs. Happiness
When one does what one is supposed to
do, one feels fulfillment. In other words,
when one is what one is supposed to be,
one is happy.

Happiness / satisfaction is considered to be

a good thing. In fact happiness is the ONLY
really good thing in the sense that we don’t
want it for the sake of another thing (as a
tool) but for its own sake.
Eudaimonia – the true happiness
Eudaimonia is a moralised, or "value-
laden“ concept of happiness, something
like "true“ or "real" happiness or "the sort
of happiness worth seeking or having.“

Thereby virtue ethicists claim that a

human life devoted to physical pleasure
or the acquisition of wealth is not
eudaimon, but a wasted life..
Eudaimonia – the true happiness
All standard versions of virtue ethics
agree that living a life in accordance
with virtue is necessary for eudaimonia.

Eudaimonia involves virtuous life – virtues

are goals in themselves, not instruments
for achieving eudaimonia.
Human virtue (Arete)
Aristotle attempts to identify what are
the characteristics of human being that
differentiate it from other species.

The proper function or excellence of a

thing is its arête (virtue). The human
arete or virtue is activity of the soul in
accordance with virtue (over a lifetime).
Human virtue (Arete)
Aristotle defines moral virtue as a disposition to
behave in the right manner and as
a mean between extremes of deficiency and
excess, which are vices.

We learn moral virtue primarily through habit

and practice rather than through reasoning
and instruction.
Human virtue (Arete)

The quality that seems distinctively

human is the use of reason.

“The function of man then is activity of

soul [thinking well and doing well] in
accordance with reason.”
Human virtue (Arete)
What is the function of human beings?

It is the ACTIVITY OF SOUL in

ACCORDANCE WITH REASON or AT
LEAST NOT WITHOUT REASON.
Human virtue (Arete)
Happiness is not possible without virtues.

Some virtues that are necessary for happiness:

• Wisdom
• Pleasure (because the lives of those who live
rationally with excellence are pleasurable)
• We also need a certain amount of good
fortune happiness is not entirely in your control
Human virtue (Arete)
Arete could be translated “excellence”,
standard translation, however, is “virtue”.

A virtue such as honesty or generosity is not

just a tendency to do what is honest or
generous, nor is it to be helpfully specified as a
"desirable" or "morally valuable" character
trait.
Human virtue (Arete)
Virtue is more “general” in nature: it
enables its possessor to evaluate things in
an appropriate way so that one has – as a
result of this virtue - right kind of émotions,
attitudes, désires, perceptions,
expectations, sensibilities.

Virtue enables one to make right choices

from the point of view of eudaimonia
(flourishing life).
Human virtue (Arete)
For Aristotle, virtue is something that is
practiced and thereby learned—it is a
habit.

This has clear implications for moral

education, for Aristotle obviously thinks
that you can teach people to be
virtuous.
Human virtue (Arete)
People have a natural capacity for good
character, but it must be developed
through constant practice.

Virtuous thoughts lead to good acts.

Virtuous acts (following the Mean) can
lead to good habits

Good habits make for a good character. A

good character can be happy.
 The Aristotelian Mean also called the Golden Mean
The Virtuous (right) Conduct as a Mean between Two Vices of
Excess

Virtue is a “golden mean” between the extremes of excess and

deficiency

To be moral requires that you know what you are doing,

deliberately choose to do it, and do it as an example of a settled
and immutable moral state.
Finding the proper balance between two extremes.
• Excess: having too much of something.
• Deficiency: having too little of something.
• Not mediocrity, but harmony and balance.

Virtue is to seek the mean, or middle ground, between

 The Aristotelian Mean also called the Golden Mean
The Virtuous (right) Conduct as a Mean between Two Vices of
Excess

Courage, for example, is a mean

regarding the feeling of fear, between
the deficiency of rashness (too little fear)
and the excess of cowardice (too much
fear).

Benevolence is a mean between giving

to people who don’t deserve it and not
giving to anyone at all.
Two Kinds of Virtues

Intellectual virtues
Moral virtues
Human virtue (arete)

Humans can have two kinds of virtue:

Intellectual virtues: these relate particularly to

our professions, i.e., they will differ for a truck
driver, cook, lawyer, farmer, doctor, etc.

Moral virtues: This virtue is common to all

humans, but it may vary in degree according to
our capacities. Moral virtue “is the outcome of
habit; its name, ethike, is derived from ethos,
habit.
Human virtue (arete)

So the difference between one and

another training in habits in our
childhood is not a light manner, but
important, or rather, all important.” Both
intellectual and moral virtues are
needed for us to achieve happiness
(eudaemonia).
Two Kinds of Virtues
The soul is the essence of a living human
being. Humans are being human when are
acting in human ways. We have a rational
soul so our function is to live accordingly: to
live according to our rational souls

But an excellent human life is NOT purely

an intellectual pursuit. We need to develop
both intellectual virtues and moral virtues –
that pertain to our social and physical
aspects.
Intellectual Virtues
Theoretical intelligence (nous) is the human
faculty that apprehends fundamental
principles such as the laws of thinking and
other fundamental truths. Intelligence
apprehends these truths directly and
without demonstration or inference.

This is unique to humans and gods.

Theoretical intelligence cannot be learned.
All people have some theoretical
intelligence, some people have a lot of it.
Intellectual Virtues

The other kind of intellectual virtue is

practical wisdom. The practical wisdom
is the ability to make right judgement on
practical issues. It can be learned. Old
people normally have more of it than
the young.
Moral Virtues

A moral virtue is the ability to be reasonable in actions, desires

and emotions. A virtue is the mean between two extremes, a
vice of deficiency and a vice of excess.

For example, courage is the ability to deal with fear in a

reasonable way. Courage is the reasonable mean between
cowardice and foolhardiness or rashness.

In the case of courage, cowardice would be the vice of

deficiency and foolhardiness would be the vice of excess. Moral
virtue is the outcome of habit. Virtues are not implanted on us by
nature. We acquire virtues by exercising them.
Summary

In terms of his ethics, Aristotle believed in the excellence of

philosophical contemplation and virtuous actions stemming from
virtuous persons (i.e. virtuous actions are what the person with
wisdom would choose because what is good is obvious to such a
person).

In terms of the material world he believed that organisms

continually moved from imperfect to perfect states in a
teleological development, the perfect being innate within the
imperfect (ex. a seed becomes a plant, an embryo becomes a
baby which becomes an adult). In this way Aristotle believed the
essential nature of things lay not at their cause (or beginning) but
at their end (telos).
Summary

Happiness (or flourishing or living well) is a complete

and sufficient good. This implies:

(a) that it is desired for itself,

(b) that it is not desired for the sake of anything else,
(c) that it satisfies all desire and has no evil mixed in
with it, and
(d) that it is stable.
(Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: eudaimonia)
• Gualdo, R. (2005), Professional Ethics with Introduction and General Ethics.
Anahaw Enterprises.
• Aristotle (1893). The Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by F.H. Peters.
Retrieved March 07, 2018 from
http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/aristotle-the-nicomachean-ethics
• Freeman, S. (2000). Ethics: An Introduction to Philosophy and Practice.
Wadsworth, Thomas Learning.
• Oswald, Martin (1983). Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Book I and II
(translated). Indianapolis: Bobbs Merril Educational Publising.
• Rachels, James (2003). The Elements of Moral Philosophy. Boston: Mcgraw
Hill.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Virtue Ethics
1. St. Thomas Aquinas: The Natural Law
2. The Natural Law and its Tenets
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Existence
and Virtue
For St. Thomas Aquinas, the goal of human
existence is (1) union and (2) eternal fellowship
with God.

For those who have experienced salvation

and redemption through Christ while living on
earth, a beatific vision will be granted after
death in which a person experiences perfect,
unending happiness through comprehending
the very essence of God.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Existence
and Virtue

During life, an individual's will must be ordered

toward right things (such as charity, peace
and holiness), which requires morality in
everyday human choices, a kind of Virtue
Ethics.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Existence
and Virtue
Four cardinal virtues:
1. prudence,
2. temperance,
3. justice and
4. Fortitude.

The cardinal virtues are natural and revealed

in nature, and they are binding on everyone.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Existence
and Virtue
Three theological virtues:
1. faith,
2. hope, and
3. charity.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Man: Body and Soul

Man is the point of convergence between the

corporeal (means things pertaining to the human
body) and spiritual substances.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Man: Body and Soul

The soul is united with the human body because it

is the substantial form of the human body. Body
and soul before death are essentially united
because the two exist in a correlative manner.

Man is substantially body and soul, and only the

soul is the substance while the body is actual.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Man: Body and Soul

Man is “one substance body and soul”.

St. Thomas Aquinas: God and His
Creation
God created the world and remains
constantly involved in it. He created
everything in the most perfect manner and
system. He does not create it and walks away.

He stays and helps all creatures that exist to

flourish and become the best version of what
they are. Hence, he wants the human beings
to be healthy, happy and virtuous people.
St. Thomas Aquinas: God and Instincts

But St. Thomas believes that the way God how

helps us is not through interfering or controlling
or like a puppet master.

The way how God helps or leads us while

doing our own activity is through creating his
creatures of INCLINATIONS / INSTINCTS or
NATURAL DESIRES to perform the actions that
are good for them.
St. Thomas Aquinas: God and Instincts

Four natural instincts:

A. Two instincts shared by human beings with
other creatures:
1. Preserve self
2. Preserve species
B. Two instincts exclusively for human beings
only:
1. Know the truth
2. Live in a society
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts and Basic
Goods
CREATURE’s INCLINATION TOWARD WHAT IS GOOD FOR
THEM is a sharing in Gods eternal law.
Those / INSTINCTS or NATURAL DESIRES drive us to seek for
basic goods:
1. Life,
2. Reproductions,
3. Education of one’s offspring,
4. Seek GOD,
5. Live in society,
6. Avoid offense and
7. Shun ignorance.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason
and Freewill
Natural law is the participation of human
beings in eternal law.

Like any other creatures, human beings have

INCLINATIONS or INSTINCTS to perform actions
that are good for themselves, however unlike
any others, human beings are able to
understand God’s view of what is good for
human beings and we can use REASON and
CHOICE / FREE WILL to follow it.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason
and Freewill
We use our REASON to:
1. reflect on what is meant to live well as human
beings;
2. think of good and bad ways that suit us;
3. recognize that we have natural instinct;
4. think of good and reasonable ways to respond or
act on that instinct, and for us human beings we
have various ways to fulfill the God given instincts;
and
5. reflect whether or not what we are doing is for us
to flourish or not.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason
and Freewill
STA believes that: “light of reason is placed by nature
[and thus by God] in every man to guide him in his acts;
to discern what is good and what is evil" such is light is
imprint on us, to see the good and evil” and calls this as
divine light.

Therefore, human beings, alone among God’s

creatures, use reason to lead their lives. This is natural
law.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason,
Freewill and Natural law
Natural law is the participation of human
beings in eternal law.

Hence natural law involves of INCLINATIONS or

INSTINCTS and REASON, and without reason
we will not be able recognize whether or not
our ways are reasonable and if it is the most
reasonable way to pursue what INCLINATIONS
or INSTINCTS tell us.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason,
Freewill and Natural law
The master principle of natural law, wrote Aquinas,
was that "good is to be done and pursued and evil
avoided."

Aquinas stated that REASON:

1. reveals particular natural laws that are good for
humans such as self-preservation, marriage and
family, and the desire to know God.
2. enables humans to understand things that are evil
such as adultery, suicide, and lying.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason,
Freewill and Natural law

By reflecting our instincts with

reason, we can arrive with several
more rules and these are the
precepts of natural law.

First Precept:
DO GOOD and AVOID EVIL.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Instincts, Reason,
Freewill and Natural law
First Precept: DO GOOD
and AVOID EVIL.

Eg: I value my life. My life is

like your life. Hence your
life is valuable too. Then I
should not kill you. Hence,
‘do not kill is a natural law.”
St. Thomas Aquinas: Four Kinds of Law

Law is directed to the common good, and human law

is no exception. The promotion of virtue is necessary
for the common good, and human laws are
instruments in the promotion of virtue – it is the
ordinance of reason.

Aristotle already pointed out that most people are

kept from crime by fear of the law. Thomas accepts
this judgment, suggesting that by coercion even men
who are evilly disposed may be led in the direction of
virtue.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Four Kinds of Law

1. Eternal Law
2. Natural Law
3. Human Law
4. Divine Law

The last three all depend on the first, but

in different ways.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Eternal Law

‘The rational governance of everything on the part of God as

ruler of the universe’
Eternal law is identical to the mind of God as seen by
God himself. It can be called law because God
stands to the universe which he creates as a ruler
does to a community which he rules.

When God's reason is considered as it is understood

by God Himself (ex. in its unchanging, eternal nature,
it is eternal law).
St. Thomas Aquinas: Eternal Law

Eternal law, though not fully knowable to humans was

God’s perfect plan. This, as Creator’s ultimate design,
determined the way things such as animals and
planets behaved and how people should behave.

Controversy: Is same sex marriage according

to God’s plan?
St. Thomas Aquinas: Natural Law

“The participation in the eternal law by human beings.’

We have a natural inclination to things. Reason has
the capacity to perceive what is good for human
beings by following ‘the order of our natural
inclinations’.

1. The first inclination to the good is common to all

created reality. (Preserve and protect life)
2. The second inclination to the good is generic to
animals. (Procreation and education of offspring)
3. The third inclination to the good is specific to
humans. (Reason)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Natural Law

“The participation in the eternal law by human beings.’

• Inclination for self-preservation, family

life and bringing up offspring: shared
by all animals

• Inclination to know God and live in

society: shared with all rational
creatures)
St. Thomas Aquinas: Natural Law

Basic Principles of Natural Law

a. Natural law is an eternal moral law revealed to all
people through human nature.
b. Natural law influences (but cannot save) even fallen
and sinful humanity.
c. Natural law is the proper basis of political authority.
d. Natural law authorizes society to establish a
government.
e. Governments are themselves subject to the natural law.
f. Each society’s laws should apply the natural law to that
society’s particular circumstances.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Divine Law

This law, primarily from the Bible,

guided individuals beyond the world
to "eternal happiness" in what St.
Augustine had called the "City of
God.“

Derived from eternal law as it appears

historically to humans, especially
through revelation when it appears to
human beings as divine commands.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Divine Law

1. The Old Law (Old Testament) –

Ten Commandments
• commands conduct externally -
reaches humans through their
capacity for fear – Law promised
earthly rewards (social peace and its
benefits)

2. The New Law (New Testament) –

the teachings of Jesus
• commands internal conduct -
reaches humans by the example of
divine love - promises heavenly
reward
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Laws

While natural law applied to all humans and

was unchanging, human law could vary with
time, place, and circumstance. These laws are
enacted and put in force in our human
communities.

This fits just those so-called positive laws which

are what written and enacted laws should be.
But laws which fall short of what they should
be are not true laws at all.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Human Laws

Aquinas defined this last

type of law as "an
ordinance of reason for
the common good"
made and enforced by
a ruler or government.
He warned, however,
that people were not
bound to obey laws
made by humans that
conflicted with natural
law.
God’s will over Human’s desire

"Greed is a sin against

God, just as all mortal sins,
in as much as man
condemns things eternal
for the sake of temporal
things.“
God’s will over Human’s desire

Q:

If God created us to seek good, and if

we are built with the ability to recognize
and seek it, then why people kill or
violate the natural law?
God’s will over Human’s desire

A:
Ignorance and Emotion
We thought what we seek is something
good but we are wrong, because we
are just ignorant.
Sometimes we know what we should do,
but emotion overpowers our reason,
and we fail to do what we should do.
Summary

Aquinas conceives of creatures, according to types,

as governed by final causes or ends which they
naturally seek. These ends are implanted in them by
the Creator.

Most creatures actively seek their proper ends out of

instinct. When reason rules in the human soul, we
choose what accords with nature.
Summary

Reason in human beings is capable of

apprehending certain general principles
implanted in human nature.

The first principle of the natural law is "good is

to be done and pursued, and evil avoided"
(q94, a2, p. 47). All other precepts of natural
law rest upon this.
• Aquinas, T (1966). On Law, Eternal Law, and
Natural Law. Summa Theologiae, vol. 28.
Blackfriars in conjunction with McGraw-
Hill Book Company, New York.
• Rachels, James (2003). The Elements of
Moral Philosophy. Boston: Mcgraw Hill.