What is Virtue Ethics?

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Virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches in normative ethics, along with deontology and consequentialism. It is an ethical theory that emphasizes the person's virtues or moral character (in contrast to deontology, which emphasizes duties or rules; and to consequentialism, which emphasizes the consequences of an action).

Unlike the other approaches in normative ethics, virtue ethics does not provide the moral agent with specific principles or rules to guide her actions. Thus, instead of questions like "what ought I do?" (as in the case of deontology) or "will my action produce the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people?" (consequentialism), virtue ethics deals with broader ethical questions, such as:
  1. What kind of life should I live?
  2. What is a good life?
  3. How can I be consistent in my moral actions?

Virtue ethics does not particularly deal with the rightness or wrongness of an action. Rather, with the help of practical wisdom (or phronesis), it guides the moral agent in seeking the good and becoming virtuous.

In virtue ethics, virtues may be stated explicitly or determined as a mean (or midpoint) between two extremes (or vices). For example, courage is the virtuous mean between the vices of rashness (excessive courage) and cowardice (lack of courage).

Moreover, virtue ethics argues that being virtuous means both: (1) actually acting in accordance with a virtue, and (2) being in the correct mental state (that is, acting for the sake of that virtue, and not for some other reason, like satisfying a desire).

Also, for virtue ethics, doing a virtuous action once does not automatically make a person virtuous. To be virtuous, one must have acquired the habit of acting virtuously in different situations.

Virtue ethics can be traced back to both ancient Western and Eastern philosophers such as Plato, Confucius, Mencius, and especially Aristotle. It has seen a resurgence since the second half of the 20th century and has taken three major forms:
  1. Ethics of Care
  2. Agent-Based Theories
  3. Eudaimonist Virtue Ethics

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