Question: This week our main discussion will focus on explaining and evaluating the theory of virtue ethics as discussed in Chapter 5 of the textbook. Your instructor will be choosing the discussion question and posting it as the first post in the main discussion forum. The requirements for the discussion this week include the following:
• You must begin posting by Day 3 (Thursday).
• The total combined word count for all of your posts, counted together, should be at least 600 words, not including references.
• You must answer all the questions in the prompt and show evidence of having read the resources that are required to complete the discussion properly (such as by using quotes, referring to specific points made in the text, etc.).
Discussion 1: Virtue and Teleology
To ensure that your initial post starts its own unique thread, do not reply to this post. Instead, please click the "Reply" link above this post.
Please read the general discussion requirements above, as well as the announcements explaining the discussion requirements and answering the most frequently asked questions. If you are still unsure about how to proceed with the discussion, please reply to one of those announcements or contact your instructor.
Please carefully read and think about the entire prompt before composing your first post. This discussion will require you to have carefully read Chapter 5 of the textbook, as well as the assigned portions of Aristotle's (1931) Nicomachean Ethics.
Aristotle's account of ethics is "teleological", which means that our understanding of virtue and living well is based on a sense of the "telos" (function, purpose, or end) of something (see Aristotle's text and the textbook for the full account).
1. Engage with the text:
Using at least one quote from the required text(s), explain the relation between virtue and living well on Aristotle's account, and briefly describe some of the key characteristics of the virtues.
1. Reflect on yourself:
Identify an area of your life in which virtues are needed to do well. Explain what the "telos" of that role or activity is, what virtues are needed and why they are needed, and what would be lost if someone tried to be successful in that activity who didn't exercise the virtues. This might be a role you have, a vocation or career, a hobby, or something common to all of us.
1. Reflect on virtue:
In what ways do the virtues you identify display the characteristics Aristotle describes? For instance, you could explain whether they occupy an intermediate between too much and too little of some quality, how they would affect one's emotions as well as ones actions, etc.
Aristotle. (1931). Nicomachean ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.).
Thames, B. (2018). How should one live? Introduction to ethics and moral reasoning (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.