• “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
(Socrates, 470-399 B.C.)
• “The happy life is thought to be virtuous; now a virtuous life requires exertion and does not consist in amusement.” (Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.)
The Four Main Virtues
• Prudence (mind): to think about a moral problem clearly and completely
• Temperance (emotions): control attraction to positive emotions
• Fortitude (emotions): control aversion for negative emotions
• Justice (will): choose according to truth and fairness.
Virtue Ethics
• Focuses on the type of person we should strive to be
• Actions which reflect good character traits (virtues) are inherently right
• Actions which reflect bad character traits (vices) are inherently wrong
• Virtue ethics are tied more to individual behavior than to that of an organization (e.g. business, government)
ARISTOTLE says that moral virtues are tendencies, acquired through habit formation, to reach a proper balance between extremes in conduct, emotion, desire and attitude i.e. virtues are tendencies to find the Golden Mean between the extremes of too much and too little.
Some of the virtues are defined using examples here:
| Virtue | Too much | Too less |
| (Golden mean between extremes) | ||
| Courage | Foolhardiness | Cowardice |
| Truthfulness | Revealing all in violation of tact and confidentiality | Being secretive or lacking in candor |
| Generosity | Wasting one’s resources | Being miserly |
| Friendliness | Being annoyingly effusive | Sulky or surly |