Theory the focus is more on the character based side of things. His theory was seen as more as an agent-centered concept, so that an action was to be right if that is what a virtuous person, being the agent, would do in those certain circumstances. The goal of the theory of virtue is to do a thing, in the best possible way that one can. Therefore when one does the right thing in the best way possible, then they are capable of achieving virtue. Although to have virtue may sound like an impossible task, Aristotle truly believed that there were people who indeed partake in a life that was virtuous.
One is able to live a virtuous life when they act within the boundaries of the mean. The mean is the right amount of virtue, the sweet spot that exists right in between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency. The vice of excess can be seen as doing too much and the vice of deficiency can be seen as doing the very least. So for example when we talk about the act of courage we think of the ability to do something brave, to do something that may frighten someone. The vice of excess when we are talking about courage would be foolhardiness, brashness or recklessness, so just stupidly trying to be courageous to the point in which you are not thinking. The vice of deficiency would be cowardliness or timidness, so not being brave at all. The virtue of courage lies between reckless and a coward. But the thing is that one can not simply just do one courageous act and them obtain virtue, for virtue is gained over time by repeatedly being a good person.
Just like courage the virtue of generosity has a vice of excess which would be profugance, or stupidly just giving away money to the point in which you give way more than you actually have. The vice of deficiency is stinginess, which would be keeping it all to yourself and not giving anything away at all. These are just to name afue of the thirteen ethical virtues, Aristotle believed that to have one of the virtues meant that you had all of thirteen virtues, for one can not simply just have one single virtue.
So for example when we witness a guy robbing a liquor store . One option can be going in there and trying to take the robber down which could possibly save the life of the storyteller. Another option can be to ignore the whole situation because you would just rather not get involve and or risk your life. According to Aristotle neither of these could be considered the prudent way. For the way to achieve the virtue of courage in this scenario would be to examine the whole situation before taking action. So this would be looking at your surroundings and maybe even realizing that the robber has a gun hanging out of his pocket and then calling the authorities so that they may better address the situation or this could also be realizing that the robber actually has a pocket knife and you have taking self defense with knowledge of
Our human purpose is eudaimonia and reproduction. So in order to fulfill one’s purpose of eudaimonia one must live virtuously, which will then lead to happiness and a life that is flourishing. It is the difference between a person who is reckless and a coward a generous person is not stingy nore are they extravagant. When one is capable of being virtues, then that person has come to the point in which they have mastered the art of being a person. “We are what we repeatedly do . excellence then is not an act but a habit. We should then all aspire to be virtuous doesn’t spend so much time on telling you what to do If we focused more on being good people then the right actions will follow In Kant’s deontology theory the focus is more on the duty based side of things. His theory was seen as more as a act-centered concept, so an action is right that is if it is in accordance with a moral principle. In order to determine what is right you must have use reason consideration for others morality was a constant almost in a mathematical sense Kant view morality in terms of what he called categorical imperatives
The categorical imperatives are the commands in which you must follow, it is what we ought to do . categorical imperatives are our moral obligation One of formulations of categorical imperatives would be the formula of universal law which is to act always and only in accordance with the maxims that one can at the same time will be a universal law An example would be if you lie to your mom about cleaning your room, then in a sense you are approving the maxim of lying by doing this you are universalizing the act of lying and implying that every single person no matter what should always lie. The universal law is if you should be able to do something then everyone else should be able to do it too. Therefore the act of lying is not universalizable, there are no exceptions when it comes to lying
