A-Level AQA Philosophy Virtue Ethics Notes

Full set of A* grade notes for Virtue Ethics for AQA Philosophy 7172

‘The good’ for human beings: the meaning of Eudaimonia as the ‘final end’ and the relationship between Eudaimonia and pleasure.
The function argument and the relationship between virtues and function.
Aristotle’s account of virtues and vices: virtues as character traits/dispositions; the role of education/habituation in the development of a moral character; the skill analogy; the importance of feelings; the doctrine of the mean and its application to particular virtues.
Moral responsibility: voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary actions.
The relationship between virtues, actions and reasons and the role of practical reasoning/practical wisdom.

Issues including:

whether Aristotelian virtue ethics can give sufficiently clear guidance about how to act
clashing/competing virtues
the possibility of circularity involved in defining virtuous acts and virtuous persons in terms of each other
whether a trait must contribute to Eudaimonia in order to be a virtue; the relationship between the good for the individual and moral good.