VIRTUE ETHICS

The rule of virtue can be compared to the Pole Star which commands the homage of the multitude of
Stars without leaving its place. —Confucius, The Analects, book 4:4 Virtue ethics emphasizes right being
over right action. The sort of people we are constitutes the heart of our moral life. More important than
the rules or principles we follow is our character. Virtue ethics, however, is not an alternative to ethical
theories that stress right conduct, such as utilitarianism and deontological theories. Rather, virtue ethics
and theories of right action complement each other.

A virtue is an admirable character trait or disposition to habitually act in a manner that benefits
ourselves and others. The actions of virtuous people, or people of good will to use Kant’s terminology,
stem from a respect and concern for the well-being of themselves and others. Compassion, courage,
generosity, loyalty, and honesty are all examples of virtues

. Virtues are often spoken of as though they were discrete, individual traits; but virtue is more correctly
defined as an overarching quality of goodness that gives unity and integrity to a person’s character. “If
the will be set on virtue,” Confucius taught, “there will be no practice of wickedness.”33 Because
virtuous people are motivated to act in ways that benefit society, the cultivation of a virtuous character
is an important aspect of social ethics. For example, generous people are more likely to act in ways that
benefit those who are least well-off in society. Honesty is an important social virtue because without
honest communication, society would soon collapse.

Buddhism, care ethics, and the moral philosophies of David Hume, Aristotle, and Jesus of Nazareth are
often classified as virtue ethics. Confucian ethics has strong strands of both virtue ethics and
deontology. Aristotle: Reason and Virtue Aristotle divided virtues into two categories: intellectual
virtues and moral virtues. The intellectual virtues are cultivated through growth and experience, the
moral virtues through habit. Wisdom is the most important virtue because it makes all other virtues
(intellectual and 35 moral) possible. The role of habituation, including repeated exposure to particular
types of stimuli and behavior, in the development of virtuous and vicious behavior is one of the
questions involved in censorship of pornography and campus restrictions on drinking and drug use.

Aristotle believed that all life has a function that is peculiar to its particular life-form. The function
peculiar to human life, he claimed, is the exercise of reason. The function of the excellent man,
therefore, “is to exert such activities well.” Virtue, which is essential to the good life, involves living
according to reason. Only by living in accord with reason can we achieve happiness and inner harmony.
Aristotle also believed that people by nature are political animals. The purpose of the state is to
promote the virtuous or good life. Justice is the primary virtue of the state; unless a state is just and
encourages the development of virtue in its citizens, it has no power to make its citizens good.

According to Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean, most virtues entail finding the mean between excess and
deficiency. For example, courage is the mean between cowardice (a deficit) and foolhardiness (an
excess); liberality lies between miserliness and extravagance. Aristotle writes, “virtue discovers the
means and deliberately chooses it.”

This should not be misinterpreted as advising us to be wishy-washy or to compromise our moral

The doctrine of the mean is found in moral philosophies throughout the world. Confucians as well as
Buddhist ethicists teach that the mean is that which is consistent with harmony and equilibrium, or the
Way (Tao). Confucian Virtue Ethics Confucius was one of the most important Chinese philosophers.
Although he died one century before the birth of Aristotle, there are remarkable similarities between
the two men. Both taught 36 that virtue, in general, involves hitting the mean between excess and
deficit; both emphasized the role of habituation in the cultivation of virtue; and both believed that
virtue is essential for individual and social harmony. Confucius also taught, as did Kant, that a virtuous
person is a person of good will who puts duty first.

Like Aristotle, Confucius believed that a virtuous society and individual virtue are inseparable. People
are happiest and most virtuous when they are living in a just and well-ordered society. It is the rulers,
therefore, who have the greatest power to promote virtue in society and individuals. If the actions and
policies of the government are consistent with the Way, the people will also be good, and there will be
no need for the government to use punishment to maintain order.

Buddhist Virtue Ethics

Buddhist ethics affirms the absolute worth of all living beings. Buddhism rejects individualism as an
illusion; we exist only as members of a community. Because we are all part of the same web of being, to
be true to ourselves is to extend concern for everything that lies in our path of experience. The virtuous
person is motivated not by self-interest, but by a concern to benefit all living beings.

Like Aristotle and Confucius, Buddhists believe that good and evil—virtue and vice—are expressed in
our actions. Engaging in destructive actions makes it more likely that we’ll repeat that behavior;
engaging in virtuous actions makes it more likely that we’ll repeat that behavior in the future. A good
society encourages the development of virtue. We cannot resolve the problems that plague modern
society by encouraging an individualism that allows people to pursue their concept of good at the
expense of other human and nonhuman beings.

Nietzsche and the Übermensch

Friedrich Nietzsche was an outspoken critic of cultural relativism, what he called herd morality. He was
particularly critical of traditional bourgeois Christian morality that, he claimed, forms the basis of
modern Western morality. This morality, which extols meekness, unconditional forgiveness, self-
sacrifice, and equality as virtues, he argued, is destructive to individual integrity and growth.

Nietzsche’s Übermensch, or superman, is a person of integrity and self-mastery who is able to rise
above the morality of the crowd and exercise the “will to power,” which entails the will to

VIRTUE ETHICS: CONSIDERATIONS FOR THINKING ABOUT MORAL ISSUES

■ Seeking the mean: Does the trait we are encouraging represent a balance between excess and
deficiency?

■ Social policies: Does this social policy or resolution to a social issue encourage the development of
virtue in the people affected by it?
■ Relationships: What relationships are involved in this moral issue?

■ Caring and caring for: How can we best nurture these relationships both as the “onescaring” and the
“ones-cared-for”? 38

grow, courage, generosity toward the vanquished, and human nobility. In contrast, weak people extol
humility and self-sacrifice as virtues. Thus, traditional Christian or Western bourgeois morality drags the
best and strongest people down to the lowest common denominator.

Nietzsche’s ethics have often been misinterpreted as the will to dominate and subjugate others.
However, truly strong or virtuous people are not cruel, nor do they desire to subjugate others. While
Nietzsche apparently admired Jesus as an example of an Übermensch, he condemned modern
Christianity, arguing that it bears little resemblance to that which was promoted by Jesus.

Care Ethics

Care ethics emphasizes caring over considerations of justice and impartiality. Care ethics, as a moral
theory, developed primarily out of Carol Gilligan’s study of women’s moral reasoning. In her interviews
with women and through her study of women in literature, Gilligan concluded that women’s moral
development tends to follow a path different from men’s. Men, she found, tend to base their moral
decisions on duty- and principle-oriented moral theories; women are more context-oriented and
concerned with relationships.35

Care ethics has also been influenced by David Hume’s ethics, which emphasizes moral sentiment over
moral reasoning. According to him, it is primarily sympathy rather than reason that motivates us to act
morally. Sympathy opens us up to others by breaking down the “we/ them” barriers that impede the
development of caring relationships.

According to feminist care ethicists, we are at our moral best when we are “caring and being cared
for.” Ecofeminists expand care ethics to include all living creatures and all of nature. Unlike abstract
moral principles, sympathy joins us to others in a caring relationship. It is care, not an abstract sense of
duty, that creates moral obligations. Caring is also ranked highly in Confucian ethics, where family ties
and loyalty are very important.

Care, however, is not enough. When our personal inclination to care is lacking, our commitment to an
ideal or principle of caring motivates us to do what is right. On this point care ethicists and deontologists
find common ground. A person of good will—a person who is truly virtuous and caring—can be counted
on to act out of a sense of duty even when the immediate emotional inclination to do so is lacking.

Care ethicists maintain that moral sentiments such as compassion and sympathy are forms of
knowledge that should be taken seriously in formulating social policy. Philosopher Virginia Held, for
example, disagrees with the traditional division wherein justice belongs to the public sphere and care to
the private domain of family, friends, and charity.36 Just as justice is needed in the family, so is the care
perspective needed in the public domain. Care ethics plays a central role in the hospice movement’s
opposition to euthanasia and its belief that we should work on providing a more caring and supportive
environment for those who are dying. In her article, Helen Prejean enjoins her us to see prisoners who
are condemned to death row from a care perspective as well as a justice perspective (see Chapter 4,
pages 172–176).
 Like Prejean, care ethicists do not want to dispense with justice; rather, they want to see the two
approaches used together in formulating social policy. Care ethics serves as a corrective to our
traditional views by demanding that we recognize welfare rights as basic rights. It also requires that we
respect others in relationships as individuals with their own needs, rather than adopting a paternalistic
attitude. Although care ethics is often associated with feminism, some feminists reject it on the grounds
that it reinforces traditional stereotypes of women’s roles in the family and in society.

39

The Strengths and Limitations of Virtue Ethics

The primary criticism of virtue ethics is that it is incomplete. It has also been criticized for its lack of
coherence as a bag-of-virtues approach. This criticism is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of
virtue, however. Virtue ethicists do not mean virtue to imply a list of unrelated character traits, but
rather a unity of character.

Virtue ethics does not offer sufficient guidance for making real-life moral decisions. While a virtuous
character may be enough to motivate the saint and those at the higher stages of moral development,
most of us also need formal guidelines.

On the other hand, virtue ethics gives abstract principles regarding duties and rights a personal face.
Virtue ethicists are not suggesting that we ignore moral principles; they are saying that virtue is more
fundamental than duty. Nor does virtue ethics entail discarding reason and relying solely on our “good”
feelings. In the virtuous person, reason and feeling complement and confirm one another.

Virtue ethics goes beyond pure duty- and rights-based ethics. It directly challenges the individual to rise
above ordinary moral demands and to work toward creating a society in which it is easier for everyone
to be virtuous and enjoy the good life.

EXERCISES

1. Which motivates you more to take action, a sense of justice or a feeling of sympathy for other
persons? Illustrate your answer with specific examples.

2. Make a list of possible social policies for dealing with an issue such as hate speech or alcohol and
drug use on campus. Which policies are most likely to promote virtue in citizens? Support your answer.

3. Select a specific moral issue that is covered in this text. Discuss ways in which the care perspective
might help in coming up with a resolution.

4. Examine the contemporary notion of nation-building in light of the Confucian concept of the
virtuous society. Should virtue be imposed on the leadership of other nations, such as North Korea and
Iran and, if so, do other nations have a moral obligation to impose virtue

SUMMARY OF READINGS ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY

Aristotle, “Ethics.” Living the good life—the life of virtue—is our most important human activity.

Rand, “The Fountainhead.” Rational ethical egoism is the moral ideal.

Mill, “Utilitarianism.” Some pleasures should count more than other pleasures.

Kant, “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Ethics.” Moral laws should be logically consistent
and universally binding.

Locke, “Two Treatises of Civil Government.” People unite into political societies to protect and enjoy
their natural rights.

Confucius, “The Analects.” People are happier and more virtuous when they are living in a just, well-
ordered society.

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in government in wayward nations? Discuss whether the use of armed conflict may be justified in
achieving this end. Support your answer.

5. Some political conservative want to phase out government programs that assist seniors and the
economically disadvantaged, including low income college students, arguing that these “entitlements”
are best left to individuals and private charitable organizations. To what extent do governments have a
moral obligation to model virtuous behavior in the form of helping those who are most in need? Discuss
how both a rights ethicist and a virtue ethicist might respond to this question.

CONCLUSION

Moral issues are complex. No one theory offers the complete truth or perfect solution to a moral issue.
On the other hand, universalist theories can work together to provide us with more comprehensive
tools for effectively analyzing moral issues. Theories help us recognize and prioritize moral principles
and concerns. We should not discard a theory because it has limitations, but instead adopt a
multidimensional approach that draws from the strengths of each of the theories. Whether the theory
is deontological and oriented toward autonomy and the careful delineation of rules and rights; or
utilitarian and concerned with consequences and maximizing benefits; or virtue-based and focused on
making us better, more caring people—all of the universalist theories have the same ultimate goal: to
provide a rational basis for making better moral decisions.

Although moral theory offers guidance, theory alone does not offer specific solutions. An
understanding of the relevant facts, cultural traditions and conditions, practical wisdom, and sound
moral reasoning are all necessary adjuncts to theory.

Boss, Judith; Boss, Judith. Analyzing Moral Issues (p. 39). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.

Boss, Judith; Boss, Judith. Analyzing Moral Issues (p. 38). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.
Boss, Judith; Boss, Judith. Analyzing Moral Issues (p. 37). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.

Boss, Judith; Boss, Judith. Analyzing Moral Issues (p. 36). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.

Boss, Judith; Boss, Judith. Analyzing Moral Issues (p. 35). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.