“The weaknesses of virtue theory outweighs its strengths”. Discuss.
(35 marks)
‘Virtue theory’ is an ethical theory, put forward by Aristotle in his text ‘Nicomachean Ethics’. In this, Aristotle tries to answer morally charged questions such as ‘what is the ultimate aim in life?’ and produces the ‘golden mean’ which is a set of virtues (good characteristics) which we should always strive to achieve. For example, one of Aristotle’s virtues is ‘courage’. Aristotle says that the virtues we need lie between two extremes of excess (too much - rashness) and deficiency (too little - cowardice). Aristotle bases his ethics over what he thinks is the ‘ultimate aim in life’; to reach ‘Eudaimonia’. For Aristotle, Eudaimonia is the ultimate state of happiness and can only be achieved by following his set of virtues. Although to be clear this does not mean that Eudemonia is an emotional state; like a happy person – Aristotle was not a hedonist. Eudaimonia is the ultimate human fulfilment, and the virtues that the agent follows allows the agent to fully ‘flourish’. In Aristotle’s theory, he is not aiming to answer direct questions of what you should do in situations regarding slavery and abortion for instance, but tries to answer the question of ‘what sort of person should I be’ and aims to develop your character and become a good person – as opposed to other ethical theories like Utilitarianism and Kant’s ethics, where it gives the agent a set of strict guidelines and responses to moral stimuli. Aristotle was more concerned with the moral nature of the individual – rather than the overall outcome of the supposed ethical dilemma.
Firstly, some people may agree with the statement, as Virtue ethics does not provide a concise guideline to how you should act. Thus the theory does not provide any direct answers to ethical dilemmas such as ‘is abortion right in cases where the mother will die if she brings the baby to term’ – unlike other ethical theories like Utilitarianism...