Lecture #25: Aristotle

Nicomachean Ethics

2. Moral Virtue

Outline of this Lecture

• Two Definitions of Moral Virtue– Moral & Intellectual Virtues– Moral Virtues & Moral Vices: The Doctrine of the Mean

• Particular Virtues– The Identification of four Cardinal Virtues– Three Theological Virtues

• The “Unity of the Virtues” Thesis• Acquisition of Moral Virtues

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Preliminary: What is a Virtue?

• General – A virtue (ἀρετή aretē excellence) is what makes a thing a good thing of its kind.– So, human virtues make a man a good man.

• They are different from canine, feline, or bovine virtues.

Moral Virtue: Definition #1

• Human virtues make a man a good man.– This can be done in two ways, yielding two kinds of virtues

• goodness with respect to the intellect (or thought)– this yields intellectual virtue

• goodness with respect to character (or choices)– this yields moral virtue

• Definition #1– in contrast to intellectual virtues– Moral Virtue is virtue (excellence) with respect to character (or choices)

Moral Virtue: Definition #2

• Defining Moral Virtues by contrast to moral vices [II.5-6]– A general point about the structure of definitions:

• A definition includes– a statement of the genus, telling what kind of thing the thing being defined is– a specific difference, telling how that thing is different from other things of that kind

• E.g., a student is (for certain purposes)– a person [genus]– who is enrolled in a formal course of study at an educational institution [specific

difference]– Determining the genus [II.5] (see logic notes on definition)

• What is the genus of moral virtue? To which part of the soul does moral virtue belong? There are three possibilities (according to the logical principles laid down in Aristotle’s Categories).

– faculties (δύναμεις dunameis, capacities, powers), e.g., the ability to have feelings?– passions (feelings) themselves, e.g., fear?– states of character (Gk., ἕξις, hexis; better: dispositions or habits)?

» I.e., how we respond to our feelings » E.g., by doing what we should do despite our fear or by running away

• How will we decide? By what criterion?– Virtues are a basis for praise, vices for blame.– So, we will ask, what do we praise & blame people for?

– [The definition will be complete only when we determine the specific difference.]

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Determination of the Genus

• Virtues are not [a kind of] capacity (δύναμις dunamis), since1. Capacities are not a basis for praise & blame.2. Virtues are a basis for praise & blame.

• Virtues are not [a kind of] feeling.1. Feelings are not a basis for praise & blame.

– See next slides.2. Virtues are a basis for praise & blame.

Courage & Feeling

Soldiers of 173rd Airborne Brigade jumping into Iraq on 26 March 2003.

Courage is shown not by what they felt, but by what they did.

Courage & Fear

“Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.”—WWI Ace Eddie Rickenbacker

[apocryphal]

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An Objection:Feelings are a possible basis for praise & blame.

• Objection– Feelings inappropriate to a situation are a basis for blame.– Some feelings are not appropriate to the situation.

• E.g., envy, greed, gluttony, lust• Also possibly anger & pride?

• Reply– These are clearly defects.– But they are not per se blameworthy.

• Perhaps they are like physical defects (blindness).– They are blameworthy if they are cultivated by the person who has them.

• I.e., if they result from our own voluntary actions.– Perhaps they are blameworthy if they can be suppressed, but are not

suppressed.• An application of this doctrine is the Church’s emphasis that, though

homosexual actions are sinful, homosexual feelings are not in themselves a sin.

Situations, Emotions & Actions

– Since situations give rise to emotions & those to actions, virtue could be characterized as

• the disposition to do a certain kind of act in a certain situation, or• the disposition to do a certain kind of act even when feeling a certain emotion

Principle: Situation → Emotions → Action

Example: Danger → Fear →Action chosen in response to

thefeeling or situation

Definition #2:The Genus Identified

• The genus of moral virtue is a disposition (ἕξις, hexis, habit or state of character).• The specific difference remains to be determined.

Definition: The Specific Difference

• Which disposition or habit is a moral virtue?– the disposition to choose

• cf. courage as a disposition to choose– in the situation of danger– or when feeling fear

– [the disposition to choose] the mean between deficiency & excess• cowardice is an excessive concern for danger• rashness is a deficient concern for danger

– [a mean] relative to us (or the situation)• what might be brave for one person (given his skills) might be rash

for another• e.g., capturing a poisonous snake might be brave for someone trained

to do this, but rash for someone with no training or experience– in accordance with a rational principle

• or, as a man of practical reason would choose

The Heuristic Value of the Doctrine of the Mean

• Is Patriotism a virtue?– If so, it has to be a mean between extremes. What would be the

extremes?– Consider the popularly remembered version of Decatur’s

famous toast: • “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may

she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!”

– The extremes• one would be unwillingness to serve one’s country when

needed—loving one’s country too little• the other would be an excessive partiality, favoring one’s

country’s “interests” (power, wealth, &c.) even when it would be clearly unjust to do so

Commodore Stephen Decatur (1779–1820)

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Patriotism & Decatur’s Toast

• Decatur’s actual toast:– “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always

be in the right, and always successful, right or wrong.”• Some reactions

– John Quincy Adams’ correction:• “I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the

papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.”

– Carl Schurz’s correction: • My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if

wrong, to be set right.– G. K. Chesterton

• “‘My country, right or wrong’ is a thing that no patriot would think of saying, except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober’.

• No doubt if a decent man’s mother took to drink he would share her troubles to the last; but to talk as if he would be in a state of gay indifference as to whether his mother took to drink or not is certainly not the language of men who know the great mystery.”

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The Doctrine of the Cardinal Virtues

• The Cardinal Virtues—Four virtues were singled out by the Greeks as of particular importance.

– Two emotion-regulating virtues • Courage—disposition to do the right thing even in the presence of danger• Temperance—disposition to do the right thing even in the presence of enticing

pleasures• N.B.: There are other emotion-regulating virtues

– E.g., patience & perseverance– Justice—disposition to give each his due– Prudence (Practical Wisdom)

• Knowledge of the ultimate human good (or the human telos)• Knowledge of rules about how to get it• The ability to apply those rules to particular situations

– See C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Bk III, ch. 1

A Table of Moral Virtues

Situation or Feeling Vice of Excess Mean Vice of Deficiency

Fear & Confidence Rashness Courage Cowardice

Pleasures & Pains Self-indulgence Temperance “Insensibility”

Giving & Taking Money ProdigalityLiberality

[Generosity] [Stinginess]

… Large Sums Tastelessness Magnificence Niggardliness

Great Honors τιμή timē “Empty Vanity”

Prideμεγαλοψυχίαmegalopsychia

Undue Humilityμικροψυχίαmikropsychia

Small HonorsAmbitionφιλοτιμίαphilotimia

[nameless] Lack of Ambition

Anger Irascibility Good Temper “Inirascibility”

Communicating Facts Boastfulness Truthfulness Mock Modesty

Speaking for Amusement Buffoonery Ready Wit Boorishness

Pleasantness in Life in GeneralObsequiousness

Flattery Friendliness Surliness

The Unity of the Virtues Thesis

• Thesis: One can’t have some of the virtues & lack others.– This thesis is defended by Aristotle & St. Thomas– but criticized by many, including some Aristotelians & Thomists

• See C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Bk III, ch. 1• General Comments

– The thesis becomes more defensible as the definition of the virtues (particularly courage) is refined

– But a weaker version is still easier to defend• There is a connection between some virtues & others:

– Prudence is necessary to all the other virtues.– Courage & Temperance are necessary to justice.– Justice is necessary to courage & temperance.

Prudence necessary for Justice

• In May 1976, Muhammad Ali came to Munich for a fight against Richard Dunn.

• Ticket prices being too expensive for American soldiers stationed in Munich, Ali gave about fifteen tickets to the US Army’s 18th Military Intelligence Battalion, then stationed in Munich.

• The Commanding Officer’s problem then became this: What would be a fair way to distribute the tickets?

• The Commander’s solution: Lowest-ranking soldiers have first opportunity to get a ticket, then higher-ranking soldiers, and finally officers.

Courage Necessary for Justice: The Cases of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry & Giovanni Falcone

• Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (1948– ), 20th Chief Justice of Pakistan– Suspended, & later arrested, on order of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

• Judge Giovanni Falcone (1939– 1992)– murdered (along with his wife & three bodyguards, 23 May 1992) for his convictions of

Sicilian mobsters

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Justice Necessary for Courage: The Case of Otto Skorzeny

• Who was Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny?– A member of the Waffen-SS during WWII, …– in 1943, he led a glider-born assault to rescue Benito Mussolini who had

been arrested by the Italian government shortly after Italy joined the Allies and was being held at a mountaintop resort high in the Apennines (Operation Oak);

– in 1944 he kidnaped the son of Admiral Miklós Horthy, Regent of Hungary, in order to force Horthy (who was negotiating with the Soviet Union for the surrender of Hungary) to resign as head of state (Operation Panzerfaust).

• Was Skorzeny brave?– Winston Churchill is said to have called the rescue of Mussolini a

mission “of great daring.” Would “bravery” have been as good a word? Why or why not?

• An American historian describing the battle of Trenton wrote:- “Eight men of [a Hessian gun crew] fell dead or wounded. But somehow the sturdy survivors

managed to get their cannon free and fired six rounds at the advancing Americans. By now, only a brave German lieutenant and one gunner were still on their feet. …”

- Why does the term brave fit better here?

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A Challenge to the Unity of the Virtues: Does Lack of Temperance Show Lack of Courage?

The Cases of John McCain & David Petraeus

• It seems clear that McCain showed courage & related virtues during his years of captivity:

– In mid-1968, McCain was offered early release by his North Vietnamese captors

• “I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.”—Code of Conduct, Art. III

– He was beaten several times a week for his unwillingness to sign statements denouncing his country

• “I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.”—Art. V

• In 1979, despite being married, he began dating a younger woman and divorced his first wife.• Does the vice revealed in his later bad conduct raise questions about whether he had the virtue of

courage?

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The Connection of the Virtues

• Thesis: The virtues are not completely independent of one another.• Partial defense

– The necessity of prudence to all other virtues.• A person who couldn’t tell what reason required in a particular case can’t

respond bravely, justly, &c.– The necessity of internal (emotion-regulating) to external virtues

• A person who can’t control his appetites (or who was a coward), couldn’t do what is just even if one recognized the just act.

– The necessity of external to internal• An unjust person could still face dangers.• But facing dangers to do an unjust act would not exemplify the virtue of

bravery. It would only be a kind of natural bravery.• Courage is the disposition to face dangers when reason requires it.

– Not: the disposition to face dangers when getting what one wants requires it.

• Reason does not require (or permit) facing danger in the process of committing an injustice.

How Virtues are Acquired

• Not by nature– Since vice is also possible

• Not by instruction– This works for intellectual virtues.– But one cannot become brave just by being told how to do so.

• But by habituation– Activities give rise to states of character.– We have to do brave actions to become brave.

A Problem & a Distinction

• The problem– Just actions make a man just.– But, a just man just is one who performs just actions.– If a man is doing just actions isn’t he already just?

• The distinction– The right (just, brave, temperate) action

• Is in accordance with some rule• But might be done

– By chance– Under guidance– In accordance with the agent’s knowledge

– The fully praiseworthy act is also• Known to be virtuous [by the agent]• Chosen because it is virtuous• Habitual for the agent

– Not something that comes with effort