Virtue EthicsVirtue Ethics

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Author: John Waters

Virtue Virtue EthicsEthics

A Concise Historical OverviewA Concise Historical Overview

David Hume (1711-1776 CE)

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Elizabeth Anscombe (1919 - )

Philippa Foot (1922-2002 CE)

Alasdair MacIntyre (1938 - CE)

Carol Gilligan

(1953- CE)

Virtue Ethics RejectsVirtue Ethics RejectsEthics of Dilemma ApproachEthics of Dilemma Approach

Deontological Consequentialism

TooLegalistic

Kant DivineCommand

NaziGermany

SecularAge

Egoism Utilitarian

Lacks Intrinsic goods

NaturalLaw

Social ContractConformity

Agent CentredAgent Centred(Not Act Centred)(Not Act Centred)

The “ethics of dilemma” approach to morality forgets an essential part of ethics - THE PERSON’S CHARACTER

and how personal moral growth is encouraged.

Professor Alasdair MacIntyreAfter Virtue

We are not concerned to know what goodness is

but how to become good people, since otherwise our enquiry would be

useless. (Aristotle)Nicomachean Ethics, II

1103b 27-9

The ethical condition is not the condition of having a certain right theory; rather the ethical condition is having a certain character.

Developing CharacterDeveloping CharacterAsking the Right QuestionsAsking the Right Questions

• Who am I?

• What do I want

to become?

• How can I get there?

(James Keenan,

Dialogue 15)

How To Achieve How To Achieve Eudaimonia Eudaimonia (Human Flourishing)(Human Flourishing)

Aristotle defined `GOOD’ as something that fulfils its ends purpose

The telos (end purpose) of humanity is to be rational

The ergon (function) of reason in practiceis virtue

“The good for human beings is an activity of thesoul in accordance with arete (virtue).” (Ethics p. 76)

• The last side is really very important!

• Students are usually good at drawing out the point that the distinctive end purpose of human beings is to be rational…(though do avoid lapsing into writing about natural law!)

• However, what is frequently missed is the significance of ergon – putting reason into practise. This is where virtue ethics comes into its own. Through the practise (habituation) of arete (excellence) reason becomes an activity of the soul, leading to eudaimonia – human flourishing.

THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK! THINK!

Intellectual and Moral VirtuesIntellectual and Moral Virtues• Intellectual Virtues

• Intellectual virtues are

virtues of the mind.

• Such as the ability to

understand, reason and

make sound judgement

• Intellectual virtues may be

taught, like logic and

mathematics by teachers.

• Moral Virtues

• Not innate, rather they are

acquired through repetition

and practise, like learning a

music instrument.

• It is through the practice and

the doing that one becomes

a type of person.

• Over a period of time virtues

become second nature.

Aristotle’s Aristotle’s Four Cardinal VirtuesFour Cardinal Virtues

• Justice

• Prudence

• Temperance

• Fortitude (Determination in

the face of adversity)

“Virtue is concerned with emotions and actions, and here excess is error and deficiency a fault, whereas the mean is successful and commendable.

Excess Deficiency

GGOOLLDDEENN

MMEEAANN

Virtue then is a state of deliberate moral purpose consisting in a mean that is relative to

ourselves, the mean being determined by reason, or as a prudent man would determine it.” Ethics

Excess Mean Deficiency

Rash

Profligate

Over-indulge

Being Rude

Courage

Generosity

Temperance

Honesty

Cowardice

Tight!

Unimpressionable

Lying

Doctrine of the Golden MeanDoctrine of the Golden Mean

• In an examination it is helpful to express your

ideas in a succinct and focused manner.

• Offer an example of the Golden Mean, courage is

always very clear to illustrate, and state how it

avoids excess, rashness, and deficiency, cowardice

• Finally, be alert to the way in which reason,

phronesis, is the executive (in charge), deciding

which emotions to put into practise through a

balanced appetite – so producing eudaimonia:

human flourishing.

Quality vocabulary and specific examples to illustrateyour answers are always helpful.

The Golden Mean and The Golden Mean and EudaimoniaEudaimonia• Golden Mean does not entail a denial of emotions.

• Rather what is at issue is how, and to what extent, reason permits the expression of emotions.

• Aristotle developed Plato’s tripartheid teaching of the soul by attributing virtues to each feature.

Reason = Phronesis (Wisdom)

Emotions = Courage

Eudaimonia (human flourishing) is when there is balance within the soul.

Reason is the executive, deciding when to act upon

emotions through a balanced appetite.

Appetite = Temperance (Self–control)

Phronesis is practical wisdom, acquired

through experience and past judgements.PPHHRROONNEESSIISS

People are able to understand their human nature

and recognise tensions between emotions and

reason.

Phronesis is therefore the exercising of

a mature will which enables a person to act

with wisdom and discernment.

Golden MeanGolden MeanIndividual in HarmonyIndividual in Harmony

Phronesis – Emotions - AppetitePhronesis – Emotions - Appetite “It is easy to become angry,

anyone can do that; but to be angry with the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, in the right way, with the right aim; that is not easy.” (Ethics)

• Habits form our character

• Habits are a skill which are acquired through practise, like learning a

musical instrument.

• Takes a holistic approach

(Character viewed over a period of time)

• “One swallow does not make a spring

so a short time does not make for a

fortunate or happy man.”

(Nicomachean Ethics)

HHAABBIITTUUAATTIIOONN

• “We acquire virtues by first doing virtuous acts. We acquire a skill by practising the activities involved in the skill. For example, we become builders by building and we learn to play the harp by playing the harp. In the same way, we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts & courageous by doing acts of courage.” (Ethics)

• “For just as one swallow or one day does not make a spring, so one day or a short time does not make for a fortunate or happy man.” (Nicomachean Ethics)

HHAABBIITTUUAATTIIOONN

Benefits of Virtue EthicsBenefits of Virtue Ethics

Virtue Ethics““An ethics of aspiration rather than an ethic of duty”An ethics of aspiration rather than an ethic of duty”

(Richard Taylor)

Virtue ethics

focuses on the

GROWTH

of the moral agent.

“We may even go so far as to state that the man who does not enjoy performing noble actions is not a good man at all. Nobody

would call a man just who does not enjoy acting justly, nor generous who does not enjoy generous actions.” Aristotle (Ethics)

Deontological ethics

e.g. Divine Command

or Kantian ethics,

deny the human

spirit / emotions

`Life is not complete

if emotions are not

cultivated.’

(Martha Nussbaum)

Since Freud Psychology

has consideredemotions tobe important for human

development.

• Martha Nussbaum draws attention to a major

strength of Virtue ethics over Kant’s Categorical

Imperative.

• For Kant reason is all important for following the

Good Will, whilst desires and inclinations lead

the individual astray.

• Virtue ethics does pay attention to one’s

emotions and let’s reason cultivate the whole

person, which includes their emotions.

It is always a good idea to quote scholars; even better tomake lateral connections by comparing them to other thinkers.

Virtue Ethics cultivates emotions through Virtue Ethics cultivates emotions through Aristotles’ model of Aristotles’ model of Phronesis – Emotions - AppetitePhronesis – Emotions - Appetite

Reason = Phronesis (Wisdom)

Emotions = Courage

Appetite = Temperance (Self–control)

Eudaimonia (human flourshing)

Balance within the soul.

• Reason is the executive

• Deciding when to act upon emotions

• Through a balanced appetite.

RECONCILES REASON AND EMOTIONRECONCILES REASON AND EMOTION

Overcomes Overcomes Akrasia (Weakness of will)Akrasia (Weakness of will)

Recognises perennial

tensionbetween REASON

andEMOTIONS

“Unless reason takes the reins of government into its own hands, the feelings and inclinations play the master over

the man.” (Kant)

“Reason is and ought to be

the slaveof the passions.”

(David Hume)

Overcomes akrasia asphronesis is the executive

and channels emotionsby adopting the Golden Mean

AKRASIA AKRASIA Reason and EmotionReason and Emotion

• For Aristotle the antidote for akrasia, weakness of will, is found by human beings following their rational choice over their irrational desires.

• Phronesis entails interpreting a moral dilemma from a holistic approach which recognizes an individual’s emotions and inclinations.

• By following the Golden Mean reason has ultimate authority as the executive but acknowledges the importance of emotions and feelings which are integral to the human condition.

Virtue EthicsVirtue EthicsCOMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN LIVINGCOMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN LIVING

Recognises the paradox

of humanliving

Life is constantly in a state

of flux and change

The consistency of

character

AGENT CENTREDNOT ACT CENTRED

FLEXIBILE AND CONSISTENT

Promotes Individual AutonomyPromotes Individual Autonomy

Paul VI

Virtue ethics avoids the rigidity of legalistic, deontological ethical theories.

e.g. Natural law and the Roman Catholic Church’s condemnation of artificial contraception e.g. Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, 1968.

Rather with Virtue Ethics individuals may use their reason, and show phronesis in adopting the Golden Mean. e.g. prudence – the use of artificial contraception to avoid unwanted children, STDs and the oppression of women.

““Virtues are better hard won Virtues are better hard won than ready made.”than ready made.” (John Hick)

Virtue Ethics takes seriously problems which individuals face on life’s journey.

Philippa Foot argues that virtue ethics may correct deviant behaviour.

e.g. Vaclav Havel – courageously stood up against the Communist regime who invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, even though this meant being imprisoned.

John Hick

Philippa Foot

Vaclav Havel

Counter-cultural / an antidoteCounter-cultural / an antidoteto Western Capitalist Meritocracyto Western Capitalist Meritocracy

Individuals pressured by:

(1) Materialism

(2) Technology

(3) Egoism

May result in the loss of self-understanding.

“Where is the wisdom? Lost in knowledge.

Where is the knowledge? Lost in information."

(Where is the information? Lost in

data.) T.S. Eliot, The Rock

What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and yet loose their soul (Jesus, Mark 8:36)

Virtue Ethics benefits the individual and societyVirtue Ethics benefits the individual and society

Individual Eudaimonia(Human Flourishing)

Golden Mean

Adam Smith, The Wealth of NationsVirtuous conduct is beneficial for self

and others

e.g. Equitable, progressive taxatione.g. Citizenship on the school curriculum

Problems with Virtue EthicsProblems with Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics collapses into Virtue ethics collapses into moral relativismmoral relativism

Virtues lack universal application.

Richard Rorty denies there is one, single

agreed understanding of human nature.

Rorty claims that virtues are relative to

one’s culture and upbringing.

e.g. the military uphold virtues such as

bravery and courage whilst those who

advocate pacifism admire different

virtues - patience and compassion.

PacifistBertrandRussell

EmperorConstantine

Virtue is Vice and Vice is VirtueVirtue is Vice and Vice is VirtueBeyond Good and Evil (Nietzsche)

Virtue is Vice

Christian virtues of humility and obedience are

detrimental to the human spirit,

individuality and the evolutionary

need for self-assertion.

Vice is Virtue

The vice of pride, condemned by St

Paul, is to be regarded as a

virtue; for without pride humanity

will remain subservient and

fail to fulfil their potential.

The Virtue of SelfishnessThe Virtue of SelfishnessAyn Rand

Adopting the

Aristotelian

methodology Ayn

Rand thought “the

achievement of his

OWN happiness is

man’s highest

moral purpose.”

Moral duty is to

the self,

irrespective of

benefit or harm

incured on others.

Virtue ethics lacks

objective criteria

for establishing

virtues.

Virtues: Gender SpecificVirtues: Gender Specific

Freud claimed that “For women what is ethically moral is different from what it is in men….women

show less sense of justice than men, that they are less ready to submit to the greater exigencies of life, that they are more often influenced in their judgements

by feelings of affection or hostility.”

Carol Gilligan argues that there are male and female virtues

Male Virtues• Rules of Contract• Justice / Fairness

• Determination

Female Virtues•Responsibility in

Relationships•Caring / Loyal•Compassionate

Catherine Greeno challenged Carol Gilligan, arguingCatherine Greeno challenged Carol Gilligan, arguing

Male RolesWorld of work

• Emphasis on contractual agreements

• Ideas of rights and justice • Universally applied

• Formal assessment of people’s worth.

Female Roles

Home-makers

• Women reared children

• Became house-wives

• Focus on personal

relationships and care

Gender virtues are due to stereotypical gender roles

Changing roles of the late 20th century, e.g. female executives / house-husbands, has seen women adopting “male roles / virtues” and men

adopting virtues based upon personal relationships and care.

Are Virtues Dependent On Culture Are Virtues Dependent On Culture Or Are Virtues Universal?Or Are Virtues Universal?

Universal to Human Nature

Relative to thePerson’s Culture

VIRTUES

Perhaps the Scottish philosopher David Hume

can provide an answer….

Artificial virtues• When the individual conforms to social convention, relative to the

individual’s circumstances.

• Hume ridiculed the monastic virtues of celibacy, fasting, penance, self-denial, humility, silence, solitude

for being horrible as “they stupefy the understanding and harden the

heart, and sour the temper.”•Artificial virtues rejected by Hume.

Natural virtues

• A greater appeal to uniformity, as natural virtues are universal shared by all human

beings.

• Virtues such as friendship, kindness, patience, mercy and

fairness.• Commended by Hume.

HumeHume’s d’s distinction between two types of istinction between two types of virtuesvirtues (1) A (1) Artificial and rtificial and (2) N(2) Natural.atural.

Human Beings Are Weak & UnableHuman Beings Are Weak & UnableTo Behave Virtuously When Placed Under PressureTo Behave Virtuously When Placed Under Pressure

• Human beings are unable to exercise their freedom

(Liberty of spontaneity, not liberty of indifference)

• Even people who habitually follow virtue ethics

when faced with pressurised moral dilemmas seem to

be manipulated by authoritarian structures.

• E.g. `Stanley Milgram electric shock experiment’.

Zimbardo

Professor Philip Zimbardo: tyrannous dictatorships, such as Stalin, rule as the majority of civilians placidly “stand-by” as opposed to standing up and

protesting against unethical regimes. Stalin

Virtue Ethics is dull and boring!Virtue Ethics is dull and boring!

“Aristotle’s doctrine, in focusing upon the middle

way, is therefore too middle-aged, middlebrow and

middle-class, suggesting a rather limited individual

prone to pomposity, who, in shunning the extremes

of passion, love, anguish and like states, cannot

know the value of them as source of insight and

creativity.” (A.C. Grayling, What is Good? p.30)

Virtue Ethics Justifies Evil ActsVirtue Ethics Justifies Evil Acts

HOWEVER

Suicide bombers kill & maim innocent civilians.

Disregard for innocent human life.

Yet do suicide bombers show courage and

bravery; claiming to correct injustice?

Philippa Foot argued that

actions performed in an

unworthy cause cannot

be called virtuous

Who is to decide what is worthy or otherwise?

Danger of Western

Imperialism?

The Courage to ActThe Courage to Act

Worthy or Unworthy Cause?Worthy or Unworthy Cause?• Attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler?

• Dropping the Nuclear bomb on Hiroshima?

• Protect the rights of the unborn child?

• Opposing Apartheid through non violence?

• Opposing Apartheid through violence?

• Use the eggs of aborted foetuses to help infertile couples conceive & eradicate genetic abnormalities?

Bonhoeffer Truman Mother Teresa Tutu Mandela Gosden

Wrong to follow Role ModelsWrong to follow Role Models(Kant and Jean-Paul Sartre)

• Role models are `fatal to morality’• Role Models – Hypothetical Imperative

(following someone else, peer pressure) • Autonomous individuals should use reason

and as an individual make their own decision.

Jean-Paul Sartre

• Should not be led by others. • Inauthentic, `bad faith’

• People are free, autonomous agents and so

should welcome the challenge of deciding the

good for its own sake.

Virtue Ethics Virtue Ethics Denies the Grace of GodDenies the Grace of God

• Erasmus: Virtue Ethics denies the need for the

assistance of God.

• Virtue Ethics challenges Christian doctrine of

Original Sin

• Fallen human nature is dependent on God’s grace

for salvation.

• Calvin: Virtue Ethics leads to arrogant and

proud people basking in their own glories.

• The appropriate attitude to adopt is one of

praising God as the creator of the world and

author of morality.

Case StudiesCase Studies

Application of Virtue Ethics to Application of Virtue Ethics to Moral IssuesMoral Issues

Morally Should Students Pay Morally Should Students Pay University Tuition Fees?University Tuition Fees?

• In January 2004 the Labour government experienced an unprecedented Back-bench revolt over its planned reforms on the funding of University education.

• Tony Blair’s Government proposed that students should pay up to £3,000 per year for their University tuition fees. (Though measures were in place to support those students whose parents are on lower incomes.)

• Unhappy at the proposals numerous Labour M.P.s rebelled. Eventually the government won the vote by just 5 votes, in spite of its 160 seat majority in Parliament.

• Explain the views of a Virtue ethicist.

Morally Should Students Pay Morally Should Students Pay University Tuition Fees?University Tuition Fees?Some further points to consider…

• Many consider education to be an intrinsic human right and students should not be deterred by the cost of tuition fees.

• Labour claim that to repay a student loan would cost just £8.75 per week. Graduates should accept contributing to their education as they earn significantly more than non-graduates.

• The Russell Group (University Vice-Chancellors) drew attention to the current annual £10 billion short-fall in university funding. Funding is required from somewhere.

• If U.K. students are not required to pay tuition fees then Universities may offer their places to overseas students who are charged approximately £13,000 per year.

Pius XII

J.S. Mill

Williams

2003 War Against Iraq2003 War Against IraqMorally Justifiable?Morally Justifiable?

Saddam Hussain

Tony Blair Rowan Williams

George Bush

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, did not support

military action as the war did not satisfy the Just War criteria.

George Bush and Tony Blairwere prepared to sanction war

against Iraq as there was a real and current danger from weapons of mass destruction

What might Virtue ethics suggest?

War Against Iraq – Morally Justifiable?War Against Iraq – Morally Justifiable?Some further points to consider…

George Bush declared that Iraq was in breach of the United Nations Resolutions. (But so too are other countries, though they lack the oil of Iraq.)

Saddam Hussein was a tyrant who imprisoned and tortured those who opposed him. He used bio-chemical warfare against the Kurdish people.

• As yet no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.

• The United Nations Security Council, who many consider to be the legitimate authority, did not support the resolution to go to go war.

Is it possible to win the peace in Iraq or has it turned the country into a terrorists’ playground?

Pius XII

J.S. Mill

Socrates Says Links

Aristotle (384-322 BC)Nicomachean Ethics

“We are not concerned to know what goodness is but how to become good people, since otherwise our enquiry would be useless.” Nicomachean

Ethics, II 1103b 27-9

“The good for human beings is an activity of the soul in accordance with

arete (virtue).”(Aristotle)

David HumeDavid Hume (1711-1776 CE)Enquiry Concerning the Principals of Morals p.279

“But what philosophical truth can be more more

advantageous to society than those which

represent virtue… Virtue talks not of useless

austerities and rigours, suffering and self denial.

Virtue declares that her sole purpose is to make

mankind, if possible, cheerful and happy……

The sole trouble which Virtue demands, is that

… of just calculation, and a steady B……

preference of the greatest happiness.”

(David Hume)

Elizabeth Anscombe rejects the Divine Command Theory where God is understood as the source of morality e.g. Decalogue

In 1958 Professor Elizabeth Anscombe, commented “in a secular age modern moral philosophy is misguided because it rests on the notion of a `law’ without a lawgiver.”

To follow a moral law out of a sense of obedience belittles the status and integrity of human beings.

Virtue should be its own reward, irrespective of the source of authority or the desirable / undesirable consequences (heaven or hell).

MOSES

Elizabeth AnscombeElizabeth AnscombePresident TrumanPresident Truman

However, Elizabeth Anscombe spoke against the proposal on the grounds that it would be

wrong to honour the person who was responsible for dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan.

After World War II Oxford University proposed honouring President Truman, (a former American President)

Anscombe knew that by speaking out she would make herself unpopular, but showed courage and

fortitude.

Professor Philippa FootProfessor Philippa FootVirtue ethics: Agent centredVirtue ethics: Agent centred

Virtues are a skill, they develop with practise. Reason selects appropriate emotions for the particular situation.

Virtues, such as courage, used in an unworthy

cause cease to be virtues..

Virtue ethics can help to correct

deviant behaviour as

it it is agent, notact, centred.Professor

Foot

MacIntyre considers that since the Enlightenment ethics hasbeen too pre-occupied with

autonomy and reason.

The Crisis of ModernityThe Crisis of Modernity

This is a serious mistake as ethicsis grounded in communal living,

forms of life.

Virtues such as loyalty, trust, friendship arise out of communal living, and is it to this that ethics

should return…

Problems of Rule Based Ethics

Often founded on a theistic

belief – which lacks relevance in a secular age.

Can ignore the spiritual dimension to

the human character.

Focuses too much on the issue of

autonomy at the expense of

communal life.

“We need to attend to virtues in the first place in order to understand the function and authority of rules.” MacIntyre After Virtue

Virtues are Gender Specific(Carol Gilligan)

Female Virtues

• Responsibility in Relationships

• Caring / Loyal• Compassionate

Male Virtues

•Rules of Contract• Justice / Fairness

• Determination• Courage

Natural Law Upheld ByNatural Law Upheld ByThe Magisterium is Too AuthoritativeThe Magisterium is Too Authoritative

Hans Kung regards the Catholic

Church as being too authoritarian.

He thinks the Roman Catholic church

is operating with a Medieval world

view ethic where Nature is held to

be superior to reason.

The laity are instructed by the clergy

through Papal authority

e.g. Humanae Vitae, which

forbids the use of artificial

contraception. Hans Kung

Pius XI

Pius XII

Paul VI

John Paul II

Duty for Duty’s Sake…Duty for Duty’s Sake…

• Reason is cold and impersonal

• The Shoah (Holocaust)

• Trial of Adolf Eichmann, SS

officer, his defence was that

he was simply performing

his Kantian duty.

Duty, without guidance from human benevolence Duty, without guidance from human benevolence and sympathy, can lead to rigid moral fanaticismand sympathy, can lead to rigid moral fanaticism

“I meant by my remark about Kant that the principle of my will must always be such that it can become the

principle of general laws.”

Eichmann also cited, in support of his Kantian attitude to his duty, the fact that out of the millions of cases that passed through his hands, he allowed sympathy to

sway him from his path of duty on only two occasions.

Because Eichmann believed one should do one’s duty unaffected by sympathy, he steadfastly stuck to his duty, instead of being tempted to bend the rules and

help the Jews.

Trial of Adolph Eichmann, Chief Administrator of the HolocaustJerusalem 1961 (Source: Peter Singer

How are we to live? p. 220)

Elizabeth Anscombe rejects the Divine Command Theory where God is understood as the source of morality e.g. Decalogue

In 1958 Professor Elizabeth Anscombe, commented “in a secular age modern moral philosophy is misguided because it rests on the notion of a `law’ without a lawgiver.”

To follow a moral law out of a sense of obedience belittles the status and integrity of human beings.

Virtue should be its own reward, irrespective of the source of authority or the desirable / undesirable consequences (heaven or hell).

MOSES

Thomas HobbesThomas HobbesSocial Contract Theory of EthicsSocial Contract Theory of Ethics

Hobbes recommended the need for a Leviathan – a ruler who would have the right to force people to comply to the general will.

Thomas Hobbes took a rather pessimistic view of human nature, thinking “Life is isolated, nasty, brutish and short.”

People’s incentive to follow the socialcontract was founded upon veiledegoism; as by cooperating theindividual was most likely to prosper.

Utilitarianism: Undermines JusticeUtilitarianism: Undermines Justice

To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee

e.g

Tom, a blackfarm-hand, is

made a scapegoat and is unjustly

accused of having raped a young, white woman.

If the racist, white, jury adopted an act-utilitarian approach it would be justified in finding Tom guilty of a

crime he did not commit, on the grounds that the predominantly

white townsfolk would have justice “seen to be done” and so the

majority of people would be happy.

Instrumental Approach

Utilitarians think that justice is only important if it serves the principle of utility. Justice has no intrinsic value.

Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism: Lack of Lack of Intrinsic GoodsIntrinsic Goods Utilitarianism is a consequential morality and so lacks intrinsic goods, such as trust, honesty and

dignity. This creates an ethos of uncertainty where people are never really sure if they are valued.

e.g

YUPPIES (Young Urban Professional People) In the early 1980s many middle-aged

businessmen, who had shown great loyalty accruing high profits for their companies, were sacked over-night and replaced by YUPPIES.

YUPPIES were considered to be of greater immediate use to the company, being younger and

so cheaper in the short run.

• It is important to realise that Aristotle’s use of the term soul is different to that of Plato or Christianity.

• For Aristotle the term soul does not refer to a separate incorporeal (spiritual) entity existing inside the physical body, rather the soul gives form to the body’s matter; and so may be understood as referring to a person’s personality.

• Human beings will therefore be happy when they are living a life that enables them to flourish.

• The Greek word Aristotle used which means happiness is `eudaimonia’, a flourishing of the soul, it is an active kind of well being and well doing.

• This state of happiness, eudaimonia, is recognized by reason as being desired for its own sake.