Ancient & Medieval Virtue Ethics

Transcription

1 The Theological Virtues Dr. Clea F. Rees Canolfan Addysg Gydol Oes Prifysgol Caerdydd Centre for Lifelong Learning Cardiff University Y Gwanwyn/Spring 2015

2 Outline The Historical (Mis)fortunes of Virtue Ethics Aristotelian Roots Summa Theologiae Thesis & Terminology Cardinal & Theological Virtues Argumentation Evaluation References

3 The Historical (Mis)fortunes of Virtue Ethics Contemporary Ancient Medieval Modern Anscombe Epictetus Mill Aristotle Augustine Bentham BCE CE Plato Aquinas Kant Socrates Virtue Ethics courage, justice... Right Action moral, right, law... Foot Virtue Ethics?

4 Aristotelian Roots Aristotelian Roots eudæmonia as the end in itself for human beings flourishing, happiness, well-being, well-living... distinctively human excellence focus on excellences of character the doctrine of the mean Image credit: Martin ( ) virtues as intermediate dispositions e.g. courage (intermediate between rashness and cowardice) (the Goldilocks model) virtues as habits, result of habituation practising makes perfect the role of reason non-rational desires, emotions etc. guided by rationality habits of feeling & motivation, as well as action

5 Project To integrate: Christian (Catholic) theology + (Greek) philosophy The Philosopher = Aristotle NEW! NOW in LATIN!!

6 Aquinas is NOT a virtue ethicist. The name associated with the natural law tradition. Natural law ethics has been hugely influential, especially in the context of Catholicism.

7 Natural Law Ethics Characteristic features of natural law theories 1 : 1. Moral law is divine: God-given. 2. Moral law is universal: everyone, everywhere, always. 3. Moral law is knowable: all humans can know, understand. 4. Good is prior to right. i.e. Right actions are those which will bring about what is good. 5. Right action = appropriate response to what is good. 6. There are many ways of going wrong! 7. There are at least some general moral rules. e.g. Killing the innocent, lying, adultery... are always wrong. 1 Murphy 2011.

8 In the first class, we distinguished theories of right action from theories focused on good character: Fundamental question for theories of right action: Which actions are right? Fundamental question for theories focused on good character: What kind of person should I be? Aquinas would reject this distinction 2. Doing the right thing is not just a matter of producing a good result; one must have the right motives and must act with the right intentions. Right action and good character (virtue) are interdependent. 2 Finnis 2014.

9 Although moral law is God-given, moral knowledge is largely independent of revelation. The ultimate, most perfect, most complete happiness for human beings is beyond our natural capacities and theological virtues cardinal/moral virtues unattainable in this life. The ultimate, most perfect, most complete good is supernatural and cannot be known through our natural capacities. But the good for us as natural beings can be known through reason, and can be attained by acting and choosing in accordance with reason. Our natural capacities enable us to achieve this imperfect, incomplete good. As essentially social creatures, our good/happiness is a communal/collective good.

10 Like Aristotle: We can know what is good, right etc. through reason. The virtuous life is rationally-guided. Reason enables us to attain what is naturally good for us. The virtues are means between extremes. Reason determines the mean. Virtues are good habits/dispositions. Reason alone cannot determine the perfect, ultimate good. The value of the virtues is derivative 3. Sound judgement requires good habits i.e. virtues. Right action must be appropriately motivated. To achieve the human good requires the virtues. The nature of the good does not depend on the nature of virtue; rather, the nature of virtue depends on the nature of the good. 3 Finnis 2014.

11 Summa Theologiae Summa Theologiae Summa Theologiae (ST) consists of three parts: Intro (Q1) Part I: God (ST 1a: QQ2 119) Part II: Humans (ST 2a) I II ends, good/evil, virtue/vice, law/grace (ST 1a2ae: QQ1 114) considered generally i.e. abstractly, theoretically, structurally... II II particular virtues/vices (ST 2a2ae: QQ1 189) specific characterisations, details... Part III: Christ (ST 3a: QQ1 90+)

12 Summa Theologiae Summa Theologiae ST visits and revisits topics as Aquinas moves between the big picture and the details. I-II discusses the nature of virtue What makes something a virtue? Are there different kinds of virtues? What, specifically, belongs to each category and why? II-II (later in ST) discusses the specific virtues identified in I-II

13 Thesis & Terminology Thesis & Terminology Questions 1 & 2: red: Q55 blue: Q61 yellow: Q62

14 Thesis & Terminology Thesis & Terminology Questions 3 & 4:

15 Cardinal & Theological Virtues Cardinal & Theological Virtues Cardinal Virtues = Moral Virtues 1. Prudence ~ Phronesis ~ Fortitude ~ Courage Capability + Realisation of Good Human/Natural/Rational Good Theological Virtues 1. Faith 2. Hope 3. Charity Divine/Supernatural Good Intellectual Virtues Good Reason

16 Argumentation Argumentation Questions 5 7: red: Q55 blue: Q61 yellow: Q62

17 Evaluation Evaluation Question 8:

18 References References Aquinas, Thomas (2013). Summa Theologica. Prod. by Chris Widdowson. Trans. by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. 17th Jan url: (visited on 23/01/2015). Finnis, John (2014). Aquinas Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, California: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, 29th Apr url: Murphy, Mark (2011). The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, California: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, 27th Sept url: http: //plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2011/entries/natural-law-ethics/.