Arguments Against Virtue Ethics

Back in ancient Greece Aristotle theory of Virtue Ethics begged the question “what sort of person should I be?” (SL, 254) It’s no surprise this question still persists over two thousand years after his death. To this day Aristotelian virtue ethics remains prominent in ethical theories, all this time there have been objections to its theories but there must be something to these ancient ideas. Over the course of this paper I will explain virtue ethics as a whole and present an argument against virtue ethics and why virtue ethics has been able to withstand the opposing ideas. Virtue Ethics is a group of theories that can be linked back to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics which has remained relevant through-out western history. Although Virtue Ethics has a number of theories to its name they all have a number of similar main points. One such subject is the guideline of what a …show more content…
Here I will address the argument against Virtue Ethics that it is too demanding. The argument states that sometimes morality goes too far with what it requires of us as humans. An argument that seems more of a complaint about the commanding nature of Virtue Ethics and how is too much for humans to bear. I find this a shallow issue with Virtue Ethics that takes away from the ability of humans. If virtue is heralded as a necessity on the path to Eudaimonia why couldn’t it upset our human need for security and require us to free ourselves as humans from our fear of discomfort and allow us to potential become moral exemplars. Considering wisdom to be the most important virtue to the Greek expanding on the decisions made by humans normally would mean that a virtuous person would be wiser than the commonly educated human. A morally right action is based on what a truly virtuous person would do acting in character based on the situation not under any constriction of human