Aristotle’s and Homeric Virtue Viewpoints
Virtue ethics denotes a moral philosophy developed by Aristotle emphasizing character above fulfilling an individual’s duty or acting to achieve good consequences. Thus, Aristotle’s virtue philosophy emphasized the use of rationality before acting. He asserted that a virtuous individual possesses ideal character attributes (Crisp, 2010). According to him, the traits occur internally in nature but must be nurtured for perpetual establishment. Thus, individuals must practice being virtuous to embrace the right choices when in ethical dilemmas (Linn, 2019). For instance, when an individual practices honesty, bravery, justice, and generosity, among other virtues, they develop a moral character that they embrace whenever in ethical difficulties. Aristotle’s approach to virtue is distinctive to Greek culture based on the application of rationality instead of acting for the fulfillment of duty and achievement of good consequences viewpoints.
Instead of criticizing deontological and consequentialist theories, Aristotle endeavored to develop a rational account supporting his virtue ethics philosophy. The account is founded on three main development grounds: care ethics, eudaimonism, and agent-based viewpoint. Aristotle coined eudaimonism denoting happiness (Crisp, 2010). He argued that all actions by human beings are not pointless but have a goal based on this ground. For instance, the goal of going to work every morning is to sustain daily needs. Additionally, some actions end in themselves, whereas others are a means to the desired end. However, applying rationality in the actions contribute to the greater good, eudaimonia (Linn, 2019). Thus, when an object has a given function, goodness is derived when the function is performed well through it. Consequently, every human being has their respective functions, which distinguish them from other animals. The use of reason is the only character that differentiates human beings from other animals. Hence, happiness in life is derived when people use reason before acting.
Agent-based virtue morality accounts for those virtues that do not conform to eudaimonism. Such virtues include acting based on common-sense intuitions such as kindness, sympathy, and benevolence. These traits are admirable and can be identified from individual moral exemplars. Contrarily, care ethics calls for a shift of morality and what is considered moral virtues towards embracement of exemplary virtues such as self-sacrifice, patience, and nurturing interest (Linn, 2019). However, the application of this viewpoint is limited because these virtues are construed as weakness magnification.
Homeric virtues are different from Aristotle’s on various accounts. The former advocated for retribution for good or bad done on an individual by another. Thus, physical traits such as strength and ability to carry out vengeance are emphasized. Contrary to Aristotle’s virtue account that aims to achieve the greater good through rationality, Homeric virtues advocated for respect and fame among society members through such things as material possession (Cairns, 2015). Hence, the means to achieve fame and respect did not matter. Consequently, individuals were obliged to adjust their goals following people’s opinions on what respect entailed. Killing would, thus, be justified if it resulted in the achievement of honor in society.
Such a society would be chaotic if everyone would focus on achieving honor regardless of the means. Additionally, it is unclear whether Homeric ethics are moral, considering people may use any means to achieve the end. However, these ethics are realistic for several reasons. Honor and power as results are measurable since they are intelligible, unlike rationality, as advocated in Aristotle’s virtue philosophy (Zavaliy, 2017). Also, there is no clear-cut repudiating argument against Homeric ethics based on morality. For instance, revenge against a person who wronged the other cannot be repudiated as morally wrong regardless of the society approves it. Moreover, even after abolishing Homeric ethics in contemporary society, many people practice it today, such as mafias.
Aristotle’s virtue philosophy advocates for the application of reason when engaging in an activity. He emphasized that reason distinguishes human beings from other animals. Hence, they are obliged to use it towards achieving greater good of society and the ultimate happiness in life (Kupperman, 2009). To achieve virtue, individuals would nurture the act of using reason until it became a norm in daily life. However, Aristotle’s philosophy opposed the ancient Homeric virtues that emphasized the achievement of honor and wealth as the ultimate goal. Thus, regardless of the utilized means, actions were justifiable if the individual achieved the honor. People were obliged to realign their goals to society’s opinion on the meaning of ultimate honor (Cairns, 2015). Unlike Aristotle’s, Homeric virtues would need no nurturing since it entailed establishing the acts that would lead to honor and creating ways to achieve it.