Should ethics ask what kind of person to be rather than what rules to follow or what outcomes to produce?
explain and evaluate Aristotelian virtue ethics, including eudaimonia, the doctrine of the mean and practical wisdom
A focused QCE Unit 4 answer on virtue ethics. Covers Aristotle's eudaimonia and function argument, virtue as a state of character, the doctrine of the mean, the role of practical wisdom and habituation, and objections including the guidance problem and cultural variation.
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What this dot point is asking
QCAA wants you to explain and evaluate the third major approach to ethics, which asks not "what should I do?" but "what kind of person should I be?" The set version is Aristotle's virtue ethics from the Nicomachean Ethics. You need eudaimonia, the function argument, virtue as a state of character, the doctrine of the mean, practical wisdom, and the standard objections. It completes the trio with utilitarianism and Kant.
The answer
The aim: eudaimonia
Aristotle (4th century BCE) begins from the idea that every activity aims at some good, and there must be a final good sought for its own sake. He calls it eudaimonia, usually translated "flourishing" or "living well," not mere momentary pleasure. Eudaimonia is the highest human good: a complete life lived well, in accordance with reason and virtue.
The function argument
To say what living well is for a human, Aristotle asks about our characteristic function (ergon). Plants grow and animals perceive, but the function distinctive of humans is rational activity. The good human life is therefore one of activity of the soul in accordance with virtue (arete), carried out well and over a complete life. Excellence is performing our rational function excellently.
Virtue as a state of character
A virtue is a stable disposition of character, acquired through habituation: we become just by doing just acts, brave by doing brave acts. Virtue is not a feeling or a one-off act but a settled trait that disposes us to feel and act rightly. This contrasts with rule- and outcome-based theories: virtue ethics is agent-centred, focused on character.
The doctrine of the mean
Aristotle holds that each moral virtue lies as a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency, relative to us. Courage is the mean between recklessness (excess) and cowardice (deficiency); generosity between wastefulness and stinginess. The mean is not a bland average but the appropriate response, "at the right times, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way." Some acts (murder, theft) admit no mean; they are simply wrong.
Practical wisdom
Hitting the mean requires practical wisdom (phronesis), the intellectual virtue of perceiving what the situation calls for and deliberating well about how to live. Practical wisdom is why virtue ethics resists mechanical rules: the wise person judges the particular case. The fully virtuous person both does the right thing and does it for the right reasons, with the right feelings, with ease.
Strengths
- It captures the importance of character, motivation and emotion, which rule- and outcome-based theories can neglect.
- It is realistic about moral development: we learn ethics by practice and example, not by memorising formulas.
- It gives a unified account of the good life rather than isolated verdicts on acts.
Objections
- The guidance problem: virtue ethics seems not to tell us what to do in a hard case; "do what the virtuous person would do" can look circular or unhelpful.
- Cultural variation: which traits count as virtues may vary across societies, raising a relativism worry.
- Conflicting virtues: honesty and kindness can pull in opposite directions, and the theory may not say which wins.
- Circularity: a virtuous act is one a virtuous person does, and a virtuous person is one who does virtuous acts; critics say this is uninformative without an independent account.
Defenders reply that practical wisdom, not a formula, is precisely what mature ethics requires, and that the unity of the virtues guides the wise person through conflicts.
Try this
Q1. Explain Aristotle's function argument for eudaimonia. [4 marks]
- Cue. The human function is rational activity; the good life is rational activity of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life.
Q2. Explain the doctrine of the mean using courage. [3 marks]
- Cue. Courage is the mean between recklessness (excess) and cowardice (deficiency), the appropriate response to danger.
Q3. State the guidance objection to virtue ethics. [2 marks]
- Cue. It does not clearly tell us what to do in a hard case beyond imitating the virtuous person, which can seem circular.
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