Chapter Six
6.2.3 Virtue Theory / Areteology
David Ross produced a theory of ‘prima facia duties’ ( i.e. ‘first glance’ duties ), which further clarify Deontological thinking and help make it practical. Ross identified seven such basic principles:
from Deontological thinking. Criticisms of the theory: Probably the most widely mentioned criticism of deontology is that it might be wrong to always ignore the actual consequences of our choices. When we do things, our intentions do not always coincide with the results. One can do a lot of harm even when one means well. And there is always a possibility that doing the right thing can sometimes bring about harm to people who don’t deserve it. A second criticism has to do with conflicting moral laws. It is conceivable that situations may arise in which two or more of one’s moral duties conflict with one another. Should you always tell the truth, even in a situation where doing so might lead you to break a promise, or fail to protect someone in danger? And finally, Kant’s Categorical Imperative is perfectly capable of supporting various trivial or silly rules, for instance “Always wear a clown hat when visiting the Queen.”
Fidelit y : to keep one’s promises, speak the truth, be loyal to friends, etc. Repa r at io n : to compensate others for any harms or burdens one might have caused them. 108
G r at itude : to show genuine thankfulness for benefits received from others. Non- m a lefi c e n c e : to refrain from causing harm to others. Ju s t ice : to treat people equally; to treat others in accord with what they deserve, etc. B enef ice n c e : to do good to others, to show respect and kindness to others, etc.
6.2.3 Virtue Theory / Areteology
Self - im p rove m e n t: to seek education, to develop
Main authors: Aristotle (384-332 BCE); 20th century: Rosalind Hursthouse, Phillipa Foot, Alistair MacIntyre. Statement of the theory: An action is right if it demonstrates the virtue that is appropriate for the situation. Discussion: Virtue theory is the oldest but also the trickiest of the theories. It tends not to ask if such-and-such an action is the intrinsically right one, or whether it will produce the best consequences. It asks, instead, what kind of life is most worthwhile, what does it mean to live well, and what must we do to flourish as human beings. The usual answer that a Virtue theorist supplies to these questions runs like this: to live a worthwhile life, we must develop certain virtues. So, what is a virtue? It is “a settled disposition of habit”, as Aristotle defined it; it is a special quality of character, a behavioural or psychological disposition, even ‘a way of being in the world’. Each virtue has a certain object of interest: for instance, courage is concerned with the management of fear, temperance
one’s natural talents, etc.
Ross believed that in any given situation, one or more of these duties may apply. Some duties may carry more weight than others, and each person must evaluate this on their own, following something like Kant’s imperatives. In cases where two or more of these duties conflict with each other, the weightiest of them should take precedence. Kantian Deontology is probably the most influential rival to Utilitarianism. Almost all religious thinking in ethics is some variety of Deontology, for instance. Modern jurisprudence and legal thought still stems from Deontological principles. Moreover, almost all discussion of human rights is Deontological in character. The categorical rejection of slavery, racism, sexism, hate crimes, war crimes, cruel and unusual punishments, etc., and the protections of basic civil liberties like speech, association, privacy, habeus corpus, and freedom of conscience and religion, etc., stem