Ethics Theories

Virtue Ethics

Most commonly associated with the 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher Aristotle, virtue ethics focuses on the choice, cultivation, and enactment of “virtuous” qualities, such as courage, temperance, truthfulness, and justice in both individuals and civic life. In his foundational Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle describes how virtue is an expression of character in which we become temperate by doing temperate acts. In the Aristotelian sense, then, ethics is a human activity rather than a creed, principle, or goal. Most religious traditions articulate a number of overlapping virtues, many of which derive in turn from even earlier traditions and cultures. For example, the so-called cardinal virtues of 12th-century Roman Christianity emphasize courage, prudence, temperance, and justice; these were derived from the earlier Greek philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, which in turn derive from far earlier Egyptian wisdom literature (circa 3000 BCE). Similarly, the 5th-century BCE parami-tas of Indian Buddhism stress generosity, patience, honesty, and compassion and are derived in part from virtues articulated in Hindu scriptures that originated around 1000 BCE. Further east, in 5th-century BCE China, both Confucianism and Taoism identified virtues such as empathy, reciprocity, and harmony for the cultivation of ethical personal and [Page 353]civic life. Even the 18th-century American political virtues of Jeffersonian democracy (inscribed in the Declaration of Independence as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) derive in part from the Aristotelian idea of eudaimonia, the happiness caused by living a virtuous life. Outside religious traditions, contemporary Euro-American theorists of ethical virtue, sometimes called neo-Aristotelians, locate virtue variously, for example, in the enactment of intentions and motives (Phillipa Foot, Michael Slote); in practical action, or phronesis (Alisdair Mclntyre); and in the civic value of emotions, especially compassion (Martha Nussbaum).

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