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Aristotle virtue ethics (FULL EXAM BUNDLE)
Aristotle virtue ethics module covered from Alevel AQA Philosophy, bundle containing many 5 markers, 12 markers, and 25 markers guaranteed A* Applied ethics included.
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2 reviews
By: derbies_patter0d • 7 months ago
By: MasterPhilosopherAlevel • 7 months ago
Sorry for your bad experience! Please in the future message me about any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. All essays are at the end of the document along with the notes.
By: tomjarvis629 • 1 year ago
By: MasterPhilosopherAlevel • 1 year ago
Thanks for your review! :)
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ARISTOTLE ETHICS (AQA)Question bundle (5,12,25)
,Aristotle 5 markers questions:
1. Why is virtue ethics correctly classed as agent centred as opposed to act centred?
a. With virtue ethics it is an agent centred theory as morality of a person is made by judging the
person who committed the act rather than the action itself. Act centred ethics as judgements
made up of specific acts and judge them to be good/wrong, agent centred ethicists take
more of a holistic approach when making moral judgements
2. What is a virtue/vice?
a. Virtue is a disposition or a character trait that is possessed by good people to help them
achieve their ergon which is eventually fulfilling eudaimonia. A vice is a disposition possessed
by bad people, people we condemn and this gives them a barrier to reaching a state of bliss
(eudaimonia). A disposition is not a one-off act but a description of how someone has acted
in the past and how they will act in the future. Virtue is habitual and a reliable way of
behaving, highly developed and skilful characteristics and has high social and moral value
placed on it
3. How do Aristotle and Hume differ in their views about virtues and vices?
a. Hume makes an account of virtue but does not tie traits with eudaimonia, argues when we
make a moral judgement, we are not talking about some feature of world that is good, if we
carefully think, they derive from a feeling within us. Morality is not a rational argument but
more of a gut feeling. Virtue is a response to a behaviour, not describing the behaviour itself.
Hume differs to Aristotle as Aristotle believed virtues were traits of character and
dispositions.
4. What does it mean to say Aristotle had a teleological worldview and how did this influence his ethics?
a. Aristotle had a teleological view which means he held the belief that everything in the
universe has a purpose or function and that natural state of things is to move to its end goal,
telos means final goal. Everything in this universe moves towards one final goal with is
eudaimonia
5. What are the two different ways in which Aristotle uses the word good?
a. Good means our goal, we believe that by achieving our goal will add value to our lives and
make our lives better e.g good is ends based, it is a means end.
b. However, ‘the good’ is closer to the idea of ultimate good, good for human beings,
something all humans are trying to achieve, eudaimonia, this can also be called that
summum bonnum which is the highest of all goods.
6. What role do the words means and ends play in Aristotle’s discussion of the good?
a. There is a philosophical distinction between means and ends, some things we do for their
own sake, some we do to bring about an end beyond activity, their own sake =. Ends in
themselves. Some things we do as means to an end in order to reach a further final good.
E.g. money is a means to an end as it is used to bring about happiness
7. What is the ultimate good for man what is the good?
a. Man’s summum bonum is the final end, ‘the good’, summum bonum can often be translated
as eudaimonia, which can be translated to good spirit that can guide us through life, this is
the good life everyone is striving for. Eudaimonia is flourishing, living the ultimate good life,
in a state of blissful, peace and perfection.
8. What is Aristotle’s criteria for correctly identifying man’s summum bonum?
a. Aristotle creates a criterion in order to show when we have achieved supreme good, it must
be an end, final end not a means to an end, it must be self-sufficient and desirable, it also
must be ultimately related to human beings and specific to us, it also must be the final end
and not a means to an end
9. What is Aristotle’s short answer to the question, what is the good life?
, a. What is the highest of all practical goods, well there is a pretty general argument, it is
happiness? A good life is a life we are striving for as our final end which is eudaimonia, exact
translation is good life, so perhaps a good spirit can guide us through life, identified with
living well and doing well in life.
10. What does eudaimonia literally mean and why is it misleading to translate it as happiness?
a. Eudaimonia can often be mistranslated into happiness, eudaimonia is not a state of mind
whereas happiness is a psychological state, a good life is the one that is more pleasure,
eudaimonia is not subjective, must be objective. Happiness is subjective and personal to the
individual, eudaimonia is not easily changed whereas happiness can fluctuate and be easily
changed.
11. Why does Aristotle reject pleasure, wealth and honour and goodness as acceptable candidates for the
Good life?
a. Rejects pleasure as a life of pleasure and enjoyment is a bovine existence which means it is a
life suited for cattle, pleasure has a crucial role in living a good life, pleasure is not something
unique to humans which is a criterion of eudaimonia, wealth must be rejected as the
acquisition of money is simply a means to an end and not an end in itself, honour was
rejected as honour is largely dependent on other people and honour can be lost easily unlike
eudaimonia. Goodness was rejected as we can imagine a good person going through
atrocious events, eudaimonia is the life we are all striving for, need external as well as
internal goods.
12. Explain Aristotle’s function argument, related criticisms and defences?
a. Aristotle introduces the function argument to work out the function of humans in order to
understand how to achieve eudaimonia, he aims to tackle three points: good for humans is
completing our egron well, second is to show that humans have a distinct function, and the
third is to discover what this function is. The first argument says that to flourish we must
fulfil our function well e.g a flute player must play well in order to say they are flourishing,
2nd: if a man has occupational function, what is the function of the man, if faculties have a
function e.g eyes to see then shouldn’t there be an overall function, however a criticism of
this is Aristotle uses two distinct analogies to compare the function of humans with, there is
little relevancy and link. He also makes the fallacy of composition, just because parts have
the same feature does not mean the whole has a common feature the parts share. 3 rd aim:
growth and nutrition cannot be the function as we share that with animals, Aristotle believes
that reason is our function which distinguishes us from plants and animals.
13. What is the relationship between man’s function (ergon), virtues and vices?
a. We must need the right virtues in order to fulfil our ergon well in order to achieve
eudaimonia, to fulfil our ergon we must be guided by the right reasons, the soul must exhibit
virtues which are being in accordance with the right reason. Eudaimonia is life when the
individual is exercising virtues. To perform our function well we need certain virtues to
enable us to do this, our ergon is to live as rational animals.
14. According to Aristotle what is the soul and how does it contribute to the discussion of the good life?
a. For Plato and Aristotle, we are creatures with a soul which is what makes us human, our
function is determined by the makeup of our souls, so if we want to understand our function,
we want to understand our soul. Plato said there was 3 parts to the soul, whereas Aristotle
said that the soul was some kind of blue print, humans have a rational soul and our function
is to exercise the rational parts of our soul, to function well, we need virtues, overall help us
achieve eudaimonia which is the good life.
15. What is Aristotle’s long answer to the question what is the good life?
a. The good life is that it is eudemonia and is achieved through virtue and the excelling in
rational parts of the soul, a good life is the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue’ this
is the clearest definition yet, we need arete for our egon, we need ergon in order to achieve
eudaimonia, the long answer is given through the function argument.
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