Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Rawbone and I'd really like to welcome you to this lesson on virtue ethics.

Today, we are going to be looking at the ethical theory of virtue ethics and how we can apply it and what it can tell us about how we can be good.

Let's get started.

In today's lesson, you are going to be explaining the development of virtue ethics and reflecting on its usefulness.

So let's have a look at the key words we're going to be using today.

They are eudaimonia, golden mean, Philippa Foot, vice, and virtue.

Now eudaimonia is the state of living well and flourishing.

The golden mean is a virtue that lies between two vices, which are the extremes of deficiency and excess.

Philippa Foot is a British philosopher who developed virtue ethics in the 20th century.

A vice is a bad quality that becomes a habit.

And a virtue is a good quality that becomes a habit.

There will be two parts to our lesson today.

We're going to be looking at the origins of virtue ethics, and then, we're going to be looking at modern virtue ethics.

So, let's get started and look at the origins of virtue ethics.

Here, you can see a photograph of a bust of Aristotle.

Aristotle was a fourth century Greek philosopher who was interested in how humans can live well.

He concluded that the goal of life is eudaimonia, which is the state of living well and flourishing.

The word eudaimonia comes to us from Greek, and it has two parts, "eu" and "daimonia." Eu is a word that means good or well, and daimon means spirit or guardian.

So let's have a look at how Aristotle thought virtue ethics should be practised, how it would help someone achieve this state of eudaimonia, of living well and flourishing.

Other philosophers had talked about virtue, but it was Aristotle who gave the first structured account of the theory of virtue ethics.

He believed that to live a fulfilled life and achieve eudemonia, we must practise showing virtues like courage, honesty, and kindness.

Aristotle said that if we practise showing these virtues, they will become habits.

And he compared this to an archer practising hitting the bullseye.

If they practise enough, it will become a habit.

The word "virtue" comes from Latin.

Vir comes from virtus, originally vir, which literally means man, as in male.

So when Aristotle developed virtue ethics and it was later described and explained and used by the Romans who spoke Latin, for them, the virtues were manly qualities such as strength and courage.

Over time, the meaning of virtue developed and it became a good quality which becomes a habit.

So something that someone automatically does something that's good, part of their character.

A vice is a bad quality that becomes a habit.

The same word is missing from each of these definitions.

Let's check your understanding and see if you can write down what it is.

Here are our definitions.

A virtue is a good quality that becomes a.

A vice is a bad quality that becomes a.

Remember, it is the same word that fits in both of those gaps.

Take a moment, jot down your answer, pause the video if you need to, and then come back to me.

Well done if you wrote down the word habit.

For Aristotle, it was really important that these good qualities become habits.

Now, virtue ethics is very different from other ethical theories.

It does not ask you to think about which rules or duties you should follow when considering an action.

It does not ask you to consider the outcomes or consequences of an action.

It is not concerned with the situation.

Instead, it is interested in whether the person involved is developing a good moral character.

So virtue ethics is about the person performing the action rather than a rule or an outcome, or the situation itself.

Let's have a look at how virtue ethics works.

Andeep's aunt who is known for her cooking experiments has asked him what he thinks of her latest meal.

Andeep could say, "This tastes awful, I don't like it at all." If Andeep did this, then according to Aristotle, he would be showing a vice.

In this case, an excess of the virtue he should be showing.

We can see on our scale here that he's right at the far end because he's showing real tactlessness when he tells his aunt the far too honest truth.

So according to Aristotle, if Andeep said this, it would be wrong because he would be showing a vice rather than a virtue.

Now, Andeep could say something quite different here.

He could say, "This is the best meal I've ever had." Now if we look at our scale again, we can see that Andeep falls at the other extreme.

In this case, he's being really dishonest and he's therefore showing a vice, a deficiency of the virtue of honesty.

When he says, "This is the best meal I've ever had," he's being dishonest.

Now according to Aristotle, this would also be the wrong thing to do.

Instead of saying either of these things, Andeep could say something else.

He could say, "I think I prefer the meal you cooked last week, but thank you for making this." Now if we look at our scale again, we can see that this comment falls somewhere in the middle between the two other comments that Andeep could have made.

So this, according to Aristotle, is what makes it a virtue.

It is the golden mean which means the middle way between the two extremes.

Having too much of something, the excess, which was the vice of tactlessness, and having too little of something, the deficiency, which was the vice of dishonesty.

So here, Andeep is showing honesty.

According to Aristotle, this makes his action right.

So let's check your understanding.

Which one of these is a virtue? Take a moment to think about your answer and jot down the letter that you think is correct.

Well done if you said friendliness.

This is the golden mean between the extremes.

So too much friendliness would be clinginess, which is a vice, and too little would be coldness.

So let's practise and have a go at Task A.

Sam, Aisha and Izzy are each in a situation where they could show a vice or a virtue.

Complete the table showing what each vice and virtue might be.

We can see from the table that Sam could show the vice of excess.

And it says, "Sam tries so hard to befriend a new student that she overwhelms them." So your job is to work out what the other extreme is, the vice of deficiency, or too little, and then what the golden mean that Sam might show could be.

We can see the golden mean for Aisha's situation.

Aisha scores the winning goal, but thanks her teammates for their support.

So your task is to think about what the vice of excess would be.

And also, what the vice of deficiency would be in this situation.

In Izzy's scenario, if she showed the vice of deficiency, of too little, it says, "Izzy waits so long for others to finish speaking that she misses her chance." Use that as a prompt to think about what the other extreme would be, the vice of excess, and what the virtue would be, or golden mean.

Take your time to write down what the two missing parts are for each of those people.

Let's check your work.

Here's what you could have said.

For the vice of deficiency in Sam's case, you could have said, "Sam sees the new student sitting alone but ignores them." And for the golden mean, "Sam notices a new student and invites them to join her group of friends." If you suggested something similar to these ideas, then well done.

In Aisha's case, the vice of deficiency, too little, is "Aisha fails to acknowledge she scored the winning goal and she gives others the credit." So she's being really far too humble.

But at the other extreme, the vice of excess, is "Aisha takes the credit for the winning goal and ignores her teammate's contributions." Well done if you put something similar to these two suggestions.

And for Izzy, the golden mean is, "Izzy waits calmly for her turn to speak in a conversation." But the excess is, "Izzy dominates the discussion and no one else has a chance to contribute." Well done again if you put something like this in your answer.

So let's move on to the second part of our lesson, which is modern virtue ethics.

We've done quite a bit of work on the origins of virtue ethics, on where it came from.

And it is an ancient theory, but it is still very popular today.

And this is because it really helps people know how to behave as a person.

Let's look in the example.

Aisha has been playing in a football match, and during the game, she accidentally tripped an opponent.

Aisha explains that she decided she should show the virtue of kindness.

She tells us, "I apologised to the player and help them get back up." Another reason why virtue ethics is currently popular is that it also helps people to develop their character.

Let's look at how.

Andeep is doing some homework and finding it really difficult.

At first, he feels frustrated and wants to give up.

Andeep explains how he showed patience and he tried to become a better person.

He says, "I took a break and came back later, because pushing through will help me improve." Practising virtues is also popular because it helps improve relationships.

Jun and a friend have an argument about their plans for the holidays.

Jun feels frustrated because his ideas aren't being listened to.

Jun explains how showing compassion helped strengthen their friendship.

He says, "After talking things through, we forgave each other and agreed to move forward." Virtue ethics is not just a theory that stands alone.

Virtues can be found in many worldviews.

In Buddhism, the eightfold path includes virtues, such as compassion and wisdom.

In Christianity, Jesus teaches virtues like love and kindness.

Hinduism encourages virtues such as non-violence and honesty based on dharma.

Humanism supports human wellbeing by promoting virtues such as empathy and kindness.

Judaism teaches virtues such as justice and compassion through the Torah and mitzvot.

Philippa Foot was a 20th century philosopher who developed virtue ethics.

According to her, virtues are learned by doing.

For example, practising kindness.

She explains that virtues are hard to practise.

For example, being honest when it's difficult to tell the truth According to Philippa Foot, the more we practise the more natural virtues become.

And the ultimate reason that Philippa Foot supported virtue ethics and developed it as a theory for modern times is that practising virtues improves us and the world around us.

So let's have a look at how Philippa Foot's virtue ethics works.

Her core message was that action should be driven by a virtuous character rather than by external factors, such as wanting to avoid a punishment or wanting to gain a reward.

She told the story of a shopkeeper and the virtue of honesty.

And here is my retelling of that story.

One day, a customer buys a loaf of bread and hands over a five pound note for a loaf that costs three pounds.

The shopkeeper, after giving the customer their change, realises that she has mistakenly handed back one pound instead of two.

But the customer has not noticed mistake and is leaving the shop when the shopkeeper realises.

Now, she's faced with a decision.

She could keep the extra money or she could return it.

She knows that keeping the extra pound would be dishonest, but no one would know about it.

However, despite the temptation, she decides to correct the error and calls the customer back to give them the one pound they are owed.

Now, Philippa Foot is interested in why the shopkeeper chose to return the money.

If she did it because she values honesty and believes honesty is the right thing, then her action is virtuous.

But if she did it because of external factors, like she feared she'd get found out, for example, then her action is not virtuous.

Her key point is that it's not just the action itself that matters, but the motivation behind it.

We might think, in this situation, in my retelling, that the shopkeeper is virtuous because she seems to have acted out of a genuine commitment to virtue rather than from fear of consequences because she hasn't repaid the customer the right money.

So I'd like to think about your take on this situation.

If that happened to you, if you were in the shopkeeper's position, would you be honest even if you knew you weren't going to be found out? In other words, would you be, according to Philippa Foot, virtuous? Take a moment, discuss with somebody nearby if you can, or you can talk to me, pause if you need to, and then come back to me.

So let's check your understanding of Philippa Foot's virtue ethics.

Is this statement true or false? According to Philippa Foot, an action is virtuous only if it's motivated by fear or praise.

Take a moment to jot down your answer, pause the video and then come back to check it.

Well done if you said that this was false.

Let's have a think about why.

Foot believes that true virtue comes from acting based on your character, not because of outside or external pressures.

Now, virtue ethics might sound like a great theory, but it does have a few difficulties.

And one of them is that it's hard to apply to situations because it doesn't give you a clear rule.

You have to judge and work out the golden mean and what you should do for yourself.

Let's have a look at an example.

Izzy, Jacob and Jun are completing a group project at school.

The teacher suspects that Jun is not contributing to the task and has asked Izzy and Jacob about this.

Izzy and Jacob are discussing whether they should tell the teacher.

Izzy says, "I think honesty is most important here and we should tell the teacher" Jacob disagrees.

He says, "I think kindness is more important and we don't want to hurt Jun's feelings." So what we have in this situation is two people who are trying to work out what the virtue is that they should be showing.

And there's a conflict.

It's difficult to work out what they should do.

So, let's check your understanding.

Why might someone find it hard to act according to virtue ethics? Is it A? Because it requires following strict rules even when you don't want to? Is it B? Because it involves predicting the outcome of an action which is unknown? Is it C? Because it doesn't provide clear rules and it relies on personal judgement in difficult situations? Take a moment to jot down which letter you think is correct, A, B, or C.

Pause the video if you need to and then come back to check your answer.

Well done if you wrote down C.

Remember, in Izzy and Jacob's case, it really wasn't clear to them whether they should be honest to the teacher or kind to Jun.

So, let's practise what have learned about modern virtue ethics.

For Task B-1, we are going to look at Sophia.

Sophia wants to practise the virtue of kindness and she has been keeping a diary to track her progress.

Today, these three things have happened.

How might she have shown kindness in each situation? A: Sophia saw Andeep struggling with his maths homework.

B: She noticed Aisha sitting alone at lunch, looking upset.

C: As she was leaving school, Sophia saw a teacher struggling with a heavy bag.

Take some time.

Think about those three situations that Sophia came across today at school and consider what she might have done in each one, which would be an example of showing the virtue of kindness.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready to check your work.

Let's have a look at what you could have said.

For A, Sophia saw Andeep struggling with his maths homework, you could have written, "Sophia could show kindness by offering to explain the maths problems to Andeep and helping him understand the concepts." For B, she noticed Aisha sitting alone at lunch, looking upset, you could have written, "Sophia could show kindness by sitting with Aisha and asking if she's okay.

She could listen to her friend's worries and offer comforting words to make her feel less alone." And for C, as she was leaving school, Sophia saw a teacher struggling with a heavy bag, you might have written, "Sophia could show kindness by holding the door open for the teacher and offering to carry the heavy bag." Well done if you wrote something similar to these examples, all different ways of Sophia showing kindness.

So, for Task B-2 let's have a look at practising what we know about when virtue ethics might be difficult to apply.

At a party, Aisha sees a friend telling a harmless lie to someone else.

This lie could cause confusion later if it's left uncorrected.

Your task is to use the prompts below to explain why Aisha is finding it difficult to apply virtue ethics to this situation.

Start with, "The virtue Aisha should be thinking about is.

." Go on to say, "The virtue is difficult to apply because if she does.

." Finish by saying, "It's not clear what Aisha should do.

She could.

but she could also.

." Take your time to write up your answer using these prompts.

Pause the video and then come back to check what you've written.

Let's have a look at what you could have said.

You could have said, "The virtue Aisha should be thinking about is honesty.

This virtue is difficult to apply because if she does correct the lie, she might embarrass her friend and damage their relationship.

Aisha has a few options.

She could correct the lie immediately, but she could also wait and talk to her friend privately later to address the issue and encourage honesty." Well done if you managed to get across the difficulty that Aisha might have applying the virtue of honesty in this scenario and how it might conflict for her with other virtues, like friendship.

Thank you so much for your hard work today on our lesson on virtue ethics.

Here's what we have learned today.

Aristotle argued that practising virtues helps people to achieve eudemonia.

Virtues are good qualities that become habits.

They are the golden mean or balance between two vices.

Vices are bad qualities that become habits.

Virtues can be found in many worldviews.

Philippa Foot is a modern philosopher who promoted virtue ethics.

And one issue with practising virtue ethics is that it is difficult to apply to individual situations.

Thank you for working so hard on this lesson today.