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| Unlike both utilitarianism and rights-based theories, virtue theory assumes human beings and the planet Earth have intrinsic purpose, from which moral commandments flow. |
A defining feature of the
evolution of western ethics has been the displacement of the language of
virtue for that of utility and rights. While virtue theory – the
construction of a moral framework around the ideal of “the good life”
and related character traits – dates back to Ancient Greece, it has been
commonly associated with religion. And this helps to explains why it
has fallen out of fashion since the Enlightenment.
But are there signs of that movement being reversed?
There is a danger
here of exaggeration – a scientist spots two birds and calls it a pair; a
journalist spots two birds and calls it a trend – but if you’ll indulge
me for a moment, you can see the case for virtue theory asserting
itself in response to our greatest challenges.
On issues like
economic injustice, the migration crisis and climate change, many
thinkers are coming to the view that the dominant methods of ethical
reasoning are failing. Calculating right and wrong by measuring inputs
and outputs has brought us piecemeal “solutions” like carbon trading,
refugee quotas and tax harmonisation and, while these may be welcome in
their own right, there is general consensus that they fall far short of
what’s required.
Hence virtue theory is being dusted off as a possible way forward...
Equal in suffering
Doyle offers a number of possible answers. First, “not everybody has the opportunity to experience beauty and, as our cities develop, we get more detached from nature.” Second, “because we are becoming more evolved and progress more as a species,” she says, “perhaps people are thinking we are not at the same level as other animals.”
Doyle here quotes the Australian
philosopher Peter Singer: “All the arguments to prove man’s superiority
cannot shatter this hard fact: in suffering the animals are our equals.”
“Aristotle
believed when we find the middle way between having excess and having
nothing you are righteous,” she continues. “People do not seem to
understand this idea of moderation. Things are becoming unsustainable
because we do not really understand the idea of the golden mean.”
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| Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being |
