The Ethics of Virtues (Summary)

"Virtues” occupied center stage since the time of Aristotle (325 BC). As the time passed by, this way of thinking came to be neglected. In 1958, "the ethics of virtues” once again take center stage when British philosopher G. E. M. Anscombe published an article called "Modern Moral Philosophy” in the academic journal Philosophy. There are 5 components of ethics of virtues:

1. What is Virtue? is a trait in character manifested in habitual action, that is good for a person to have.
2. What are the Virtues?...here is a partial list:
   

civility	fairness	justice
courage	friendliness	loyalty
compassion	generosity	self-discipline
conscientiousness	honesty	tactfulness

3. What do these Virtues consists in?...we briefly examine four of them:

1. Courage – is a mean between the extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness
2. Generosity – is the willingness to expend one’s resources to help others and stands somewhere between stinginess and extravagance
3. Honesty – An honest person will never lie and that an honest person will never lie except in rare circumstances when there are compelling reasons why it must be done.
4. Loyalty to Family and Friends – Friends give help, to be sure, but the benefits of friendship go far beyond material assistance. Sometimes a friend will be the only one who can tell us hard truths about ourselves. Because friends are loyal, the demands of justice apply less ceratainly between them.

4. Why are the Virtues important? A more general answer is: the virtues are important because the virtuous person will fare better in life. Virtues are needed to conduct our lives well.
5. Are the Virtues the same for everyone? No. Virtues may be thought of as differing from person to person. Because people lead different kinds of lives, have different sorts of personalities, and occupy different social roles, the qualities of character that they manifest may differ.
   

There are some advantages of Virtue Ethics:

1. Moral Motivation
2. Doubts about the "ideal” of impartiality – some virtues are partial and some are not.
   

Problems for Virtue Ethics:

1. Incompleteness
• The theory failed to understand moral character. It neglected the topic and sometimes led to embrace doctrines that distort the nature of moral character.
  

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