1. “Be Good”

2.  There is a difference between doing good and
being good.
 An evil person can do good things
occasionally, but that does not make such an
individual a good person.
 Ethics demands more than just occasional
good deeds.
 Virtue is the predisposition to do good
things, and internal motivation that not only
does the right but also loves what is right.

3.  Character is different from personality. How we
manifest these attributes will differ according to
our circumstances, but all need them.
 Virtues are not just an internal disposition that
lead to action. They are good character traits that
result in good acts. Thus, virtue ethics involves a
belief in ethical truth.
 Character ethicists are more concerned with
virtue than with virtues. It is not enough that an
individual be only courageous, fair or self-
disciplined. Virtue is not a multiple-choice affair
in which people pick and choose the virtues they
like. The goal is to be a good person.

4.  Plato
 Each person functions
on 3 different levels,
each of which
correspond to different
activities of the soul.
 Appetite
 Spirit
 Reason

5.  Each human function has its own virtue. When
appetite is kept under control, the virtue is
temperance.
 Spirit, when functioning correctly, manifests the
trait of courage and puts reason’s commands
into action, even in the face of resistance.
 Wisdom is the virtue of our reason, and since
reason is the highest of our functions, it should
control appetite and spirit.
 This virtues are ideals, exists in the world of
forms.

6.  For Aristotle the virtues are
known through observing and
comparing actual events
 Aristotle says all virtues can be
understood in the same manner.
 Remorse is the midpoint between
indifference and chronic guilt.
Generosity is the mean between
prodigality (wasteful use of
resources) and miserliness.
 Every virtue can be distinguished
from the “not enough” and “too
much” at the extremes.

7.  In Aristotle approach, good character should
manifest itself in behavior, and 3 conditions
must be present before a certain behavior can
be called a good act:
 First, we must understand what we are doing
and why it is good.
 Second, what we do must be freely chosen.
 Finally, the “action must proceed from a firm
and unchangeable character”. An honest act
is virtuous only if one does it because one is
honest.