“The Perception of Virtue and Virtous Person Based on Virtue Ethics In Different Traditions”

 ABSTRACT

The concept of virtue has been a valued concept for all societies at all times. In this respect, virtue ethics has found a significant place in philosophy and related studies and shed light on the present day. In this study, we will examine the concepts of virtue and virtuous person, which are the basis of virtue ethics. We will evaluate this philosophical approach, which spread in waves under the influence of Ancient Greece, Aristotle, Plato and Confucius, Mencius, on the axis of ancient times and geographies. Throughout our study, we will identify how different civilizations define virtue and the virtuous person, and compile different perspectives on virtue ethics in outline.

Keywords: Virtue, Virtue Ethics, Practical Wisdom, Golden Mean, Ancient Greece, Aristotle, Plato and Confucius, Mencius

1. Introduction of Virtue

Given that virtue has different meanings in each culture, how virtue can be defined around the world is a complex issue. It is equally difficult to claim that a single definition of virtue will be valid for all humanity. For this reason, when describing virtue, it should be defined in the shortest possible way and religious, sociological and ethnic elements should be avoided in the definition. In this context, we should state that virtue is a character trait (Shafer-Landau, 2019, s. 154-160) Sure, character trait does not have an absolutely positive meaning. Character trait may also include bad character traits. Therefore, after determining that virtue is a character trait, we must determine whether it is positive or negative. Some authors  (Shafer-Landau, 2019) (Aristotle, 2009) claim that virtue is an admirable character trait, and some authors  (Craig, 2013), claim that it is an expression/aspect of excellence. Considering both approaches and other relevant approaches that can be evaluated in this context, we can say that virtue has an absolutely positive feature/thing or something like those.

According to Aristotle and those who follow his thought, we can say that virtue is related to “moderation”  (Strol, 1959). This attribution should not bring to mind the idea that virtue is moderation itself. Aristotle and his followers believe that virtue is a value in the middle between extremes. That is called “Golden Mean”(Strol, 1959). It is also possible to describe the extremes as absence and excess. Being brave is a virtue. So how can its size be determined? Is it courage to put oneself in danger of death? Can one’s cowardly escape from the danger of death be considered a part of virtue?

It may be relatively easy to identify extremes in the event encountered. So when you calculate the worst possibilities in the face of a horror, you calculate the extremes (points). Dying and running away from a life-threatening danger are two extremes. This situation brings some questions to mind: What is virtue? How should a virtuous person act? Where should we stand and what position should we take in order to be virtuous?

Aristotle, the famous thinker of the ancient Greek tradition, claims that this situation can only be detected through practical wisdom (Reeve, 2013, s. 43-88). The expression practical, which is placed before wisdom and limits/describes it, is extremely important. Wisdom is a concept that has no end. Wisdom is a degree that not every person can reach. Practical wisdom, on the other hand, is wisdom limited to certain limits. Aristotle claims that the virtuous person will determine his place with practical wisdom.

1.1 How can the pratical wisdom be described?(Phronesis)

The necessity of practical wisdom must be presented before its definition. Because what makes practical wisdom meaningful is our need for it. In this paragraph, I believe that it is appropriate to present practical wisdom with a practical definition rather than stereotypical dictionary translations.

In our study based on virtue ethics, we observed that virtue ethics is shaped by the behaviors of virtuous people. It was necessary to determine the limits and directions of the virtuous person’s behavior. The behavior that makes a virtuous person virtuous can be explained as acting with common sense.

According to general acceptance, being generous is a virtue. So what are the limits of generosity? Should a person spend his entire annual income when buying a gift for a friend? Does this behavior make him generous? Or should one choose the cheapest gift to protect their budget?

At this point, what needs to be applied is practical wisdom. Practical wisdom can be defined as making a positive choice between extreme points that will benefit oneself and one’s interlocutor (Reeve, 2013, s. 43-88)

In short, pratical wisdom guides the one when determining the standart of right action.

2. Introduction of Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics is an ethical theory that evaluates moral behaviors and decisions based on the character traits and virtues of the individual. This theory emphasizes whether a person is virtuous and how those virtues are developed, rather than right actions. This approach, developed by Aristotle, is based on the concepts of eudaimonia (good life) and virtues (arete)  (Pettigrove, 2018).

Virtue ethics’ point of determining whether an action is right or not is not the action itself. It seems that virtue ethics determines whether an action is right or not by whether a virtuous person would do it or not  (Shafer-Landau, 2019) (Aristotle, 2009). This is a very interesting approach. Because the behavior patterns of virtuous people may vary from society to society, country to country, and geography to geography. In this respect, virtue ethics is criticized (Solomon, 1988).

2.1. Can behaviors in line with virtue ethics be formulated?

Undoubtedly, each of us is different in terms of our education, manners, intellectual capacity, background and character. Determining a formula on some issues can ensure unity in results. It is relatively easy to create formulas in fields such as mathematics and physics, where the same inputs/behaviors produce the same results. Creating formulas in social sciences is more difficult than expected. Social sciences are not a field where the same inputs produce the same outputs, unlike the natural sciences. For this reason, creating formulas in social sciences is exceptional.

Despite this, formulas can sometimes be created in philosophy and logic. It has also been claimed by important scientists that the formulas created are useful. Similarly, some philosophers have evaluated whether a formula can be created for virtue ethics. At this point, virtue ethicists, following Aristotle’s thought, put forward the concept of moral complexity  Morality and moral behavior are extremely complex and relative. Like mathematics and geometry, it does not give the same results in different geographies (Shafer-Landau, 2019).

For this reason, virtue ethicists have stated that virtue ethics cannot be reduced to a single formula. The main root can be defined by virtous person’s acts.

3. So, who is the virtous person?

A virtuous person, as defined in Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics”, is someone who has internalized certain virtues (such as courage, justice, wisdom, temperance) and applies these virtues consistently in all areas of his life. Aristotle states that the virtuous person aims to achieve “eudaimonia” (good life, happy life) (Aristotle, 2009)

The virtuous person makes it a character trait to perform right actions and aims to achieve moral perfection (Pettigrove, 2018) (Plato, 1943 edition)

The basic characteristics of a virtuous person can help us to grasp the profile of virtous person:

1. i) The term of Arete: Sure, the basic condition is that the virtuous person has virtue. This situation, expressed by the concept of “Arete” in ancient Greek, can be explained as virtue. The virtuous person performs these virtues without any interest, as a virtue by nature.
2. ii) The term of Phronesis: This concept, which we express as practical wisdom in the lines above, determines the limits of the virtuous person’s behavior. How much money should a virtuous person spend when acting generously? He can make this decision with practical wisdom. Practical wisdom should be stated as one of the most important characteristics that a virtuous person should have.

iii) The term of Consistency: A virtuous person should maintain these behaviors consistently. Virtuous behavior done to gain a benefit or to show off will not make a person virtuous. Since virtue is a character trait, it must be stable and sustainable.

1. iv) The term of Intention: A virtuous person should continue his virtuous behavior in good faith. If a virtuous person acts virtuously or acts generosity in order to offend his interlocutor, even if the behavior itself is positive, it will not be accepted as a virtuous behavior because it is done with bad intentions.
2. How is a virtuous person defined in different cultures and geographies?

Considering that the world consists of 193 countries and 7 continents, it is clear that this question can have an answer that can reach volumes, libraries. In this respect, answering this question on a world scale will require a much deeper and more comprehensive study.

In accordance with the purpose and volume of this article, we will examine this question under different headings. We will divide the world into two as east and west, talk about Confucianism, China and Mencius to represent the east, choose Ancient Greece and Rome to represent the west, and reveal the approaches of Aristotle, the Stoics and Plato.

I hope that this categorical approach will make it easier for us to understand the phenomenon and will keep us away from the risk of getting distracted.

4.1. The Imagination of a Virtuous Person in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture, Under the Influence of Aristotle, Plato and the Stoics

In the Ancient Greek and Roman cultures, which we look at representing the West, virtue maintains its importance as a unique concept that conveys a person’s moral excellence and character development. Virtue in Ancient Greek philosophy, which has a very important place in the world history of philosophy, approached this concept differently, although Plato and Aristotle were nourished by the same culture. Under this heading, I will explain below where Aristotle and Plato differ.

In Plato’s work “The Republic”, which is considered one of the exemplary works in terms of political science and public administration, virtue includes the basic principles that ensure the inner perfection of the person and public order (Plato, 1943 edition). According to Plato, who is considered a very important thinker for the Western world, a virtuous person is a person who has internalized virtues such as honesty, wisdom, courage, consistency and fairness. These virtues enable the citizen to live his life in safety and peace, in inner peace and public order. Within the framework of the above, according to Plato, virtue is a supporting element that strengthens the mental and psychological development of the person and protects the security and public order that the society must provide.

In this respect, it can be seen that Plato evaluates virtue in terms of public order, public administration, politics and social order. In fact, if a person claims that, according to Plato, a virtuous person is a good citizen, he can find supporters to support this thesis. Although I do not share the same opinion and I think that Plato did not have such a superficial opinion, I can say that Plato showed a more “publicist” approach compared to Aristotle.

It should be taken into consideration that what Aristotle had to say on this subject would have been said after the influence of Plato. I felt the need to remind this before conveying Aristotle’s thoughts. Aristotle, who is considered to be another important thinker for the Western world, defines virtue as a balance point: “A balance standing at the midpoint of moral virtues.” (Aristotle, 2009). This approach, also known as the Golden Mean, was explained in detail in the upper headings of our article (Strol, 1959). Compared to the publicness expressed and claimed by Plato, virtue, according to Aristotle, is a character trait that stays away from excess and negligence and finds a middle path. For example, to be generous, a person must be neither wasteful nor stingy. By using practical wisdom, a person must find the middle path, the point of moderation, the balance, and the place that will be beneficial for himself and his interlocutor. Because trying to provide too much benefit for one’s interlocutor may harm the person himself. When we think otherwise, a person’s efforts to gain too much benefit for himself can also harm his interlocutor. Therefore, the situation encountered should be evaluated with practical wisdom. For this very reason, Aristotle relates virtue to practical wisdom (phronesis) (ATHANASSOULIS, 2013, s. 76-80) and as we explained in the upper parts of our article, he argues that there is no single formula for this wisdom and that it must be learned case by case.

According to the Stoics, who took a stance closer to Aristotle in this context, a virtuous person is a person who is wise, courageous, fair, consistent, empathetic and has pure intentions in doing what is fair – in line with practical wisdom. According to the Stoics, a virtuous person makes good decisions in his actions, struggles with difficulties, is fair, lives an orderly/disciplined/balanced life, and is tolerant and understanding of other people he will deal with (ATHANASSOULIS, 2013, s. 149).

In the Ancient Greek and Roman cultures, which we chose to represent the West for a more systematic progression of our article, virtue is considered one of the fundamental values ​​that drive the character and behavior/attitudes of the individual. A virtuous person is an enviable person in terms of spiritual satisfaction, spiritual balance, moral excellence and fulfillment of public duties. Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers/thinkers viewed virtue as a fundamental value in both mental and psychological evolution of a person. For this reason, they considered the concept of virtue to be of vital importance in ensuring social order in terms of state administration and public stability.

4.2. The Imagination of a Virtuous Person in Eastern Culture, Under the Influence of Confucius and Mencius

Just as we discuss Ancient Greek and Roman culture to represent the West, we will discuss Confucian thought and East Asian geography to represent the East. Sure, in order to talk about Confucian thought, I must briefly remind Confucius. Confucius lived in the 6th century BC and is a very important philosopher in terms of world philosophy history and especially eastern philosophy (Cua, 2008). His teachings/thoughts/evaluations focused on public order, moral values, and ongoing relationships between people. Confucianism is a philosophical movement that is shaped around the thoughts of Confucius and is also based on his teachings, which are China’s deep-rooted and traditional thought system  (VAINIO, 2016, s. 31).

Above, we examined the concept of a virtuous person for Plato and Aristotle. Like other philosophical approaches, the concept of virtuous man has a central and very valuable/special place in Confucian thought. According to Confucius, the human being who can be described as virtuous has an ideal/perfect character described as “Junzi”. Junzi is an exemplary person who has moral virtues/values, has the ability to lead in public, on the street, at home and in the family, and who constantly improves his personality and intellectual knowledge and has an open horizon/mind. Junzi is considered to have internalized some virtues within its framework. In this context, the internalized virtues can be listed as follows: li (ritual), ren (humane love), yi (truthfulness), zhi (wisdom) and xin (loyalty) (Cua, 2008).

Confucianism

Confucianism, which has a unique impact on intellectual life in the geography it has influenced, especially in China, focuses on the character traits of the virtuous person, preserving public unity, keeping moral/humanitarian/sacred values ​​alive, and building ongoing human relations between people on more consistent and solid foundations. At this point, evaluations can be divided into two. Some may claim that the Confucian approach moves on a “publicist” axis like Plato. Some might say that all the virtues listed above come close to the more moderate and common sense approach put forward by Aristotle. My personal opinion is that the Confucian approach synthesizes the basic arguments put forward by Aristotle and Plato. Because when we look at Mencius, we can say that this result is inevitable.

As a figure that must be mentioned, Mencius is an important figure of the Confucian approach (Chan, 2002). He has made very important contributions to virtue ethics that should be taken into consideration. Mencius detailed, enriched, developed and deepened the thoughts of Confucius, whom we can call his master. We should especially remind that he presented a remarkable approach to the natural goodness of human nature and the importance of virtuous behavior. To convey anything about Mencius would exceed the volume of this homework essay given as the final paper. Therefore, those interested can look at the 2002 book written by Alan Kam-leung Chan. (I’ve put its details in references.)

To put it briefly, Mencius’ approach is based on the idea that humans are innately inclined towards goodness and virtue. According to Mencius, man’s inner nature is endowed with goodness and virtue  (Chan, 2002). This tendency and equipment – which can also be called magnanimity – require people to exhibit virtuous behavior. Mencius argues that the individual can achieve a virtuous personality by developing his inner nature, which is full of the above characteristics. He argued that social order could be established in this way.

This approach of Mencius is the best example of the synthesis I tried to convey above. Both public evaluation and internal inclination will support my opinion.

To touch upon geography: Eastern culture basically represents a vast and wide geography that includes China, Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries. The common features of the settled cultures in these countries are social/public harmony (as we mentioned in the Plateau section), family values, traditional rituals (which are more common in the east than in the west) and the importance given to moral virtues.

In Eastern culture, which has a wide place in the countries mentioned above, a virtuous and exemplary person is generally a respectful, conscious, consistent and responsible individual who works for the welfare and peace of the society (it is possible to define it as a publicist), gives importance to family ties (the smallest public unit).

It should be carefully remembered that the Chinese civilization has a very deep history and consists of billions of people – and naturally billions of ideas. In this crowded and historical process, the concept and definition of a virtuous person has constantly been shaped and evolved. Philosophical texts written by famous thinkers, war-filled histories and documents related to them, and valuable traditional practices such as rituals in eastern culture explain in detail the characteristics and importance of a virtuous person to us, as westerners and as citizens of a bridge country like Turkey.

To make a general evaluation: It should be taken into consideration that Eastern culture has a history of thousands of years and consists of billions of people. For this reason, it is very difficult to come up with a single depiction of virtuous people that will cover the entire East. However, within the context of Confucius and Mencius, which we examined in our article, it can be claimed that the imagination of the virtuous man in the east was formed in the form of a synthesis of publicist and humanist (arguing that human nature contains virtue) manners although he lived in earlier years.

5. Conclusion

In this article, which we tried to prepare while remaining in the final paper volume, we tried to examine the meaning world of virtue ethics. We explained in detail what virtue is, what the virtues are, what the limits of virtuous behavior are, how the concept of a virtuous person changes in the east and west, and what the different approaches are.

Then, by deepening our article, we tried to examine how Aristotle, Plato and the Stoics viewed the virtuous person by taking a look at the Ancient Greek and Roman culture, representing the West. As we have examined in detail under the relevant headings, Plato defines the virtuous person on a more “publicist” axis; We have seen that Aristotle puts forward a more relative approach based on practical wisdom.

Then, we tried to examine how Confucius and Mencius viewed the virtuous person by taking a look at the culture of China and related geographies, representing the east. We have determined that a virtuous person, like Confucius and his followers influenced by him – Mencius – say that the one should be both a good citizen and a good family member – a publicist assessment – and that they tend to act virtuously due to their inner endowments. In this respect, we said that although he lived in earlier years, the Confucian perspective revealed the synthesis of Aristotle and Plato.

We hope that our article will inspire many studies to be written about virtue ethics.

Attorney Semih TEMIZER

References

Aristotle. (2009). The Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Pres.

ATHANASSOULIS, N. (2013). Virtue Ethics. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Chan, A. K.-l. (2002). Mencius: Contexts and Interpretations. University of Hawaii Press.

Craig, T. K. (2013). Virtues and Their Vices. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cua, A. (2008). Confucian Ethics in Retrospect and Prospect , 7-26.

Pettigrove, H. a. (2018). Virtue Ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Plato. (1943 edition). The Republic. Newyork: Books Inc.

Reeve, C. D. (2013). Aristotle on Practical Wisdom. Harvard University Press.

Shafer-Landau, R. (2019). R. Shafer-Landau içinde, Living Ethics: An Introduction with Readings (s. 154-160). Oxford University Press.

Solomon, D. (1988). Internal objections to virtue ethics. Midwest studies in philosophy , 13(1), 428-441.

Strol, R. H. (1959). Philosophy Made Simple. New York: American Book-Stratford Press.

VAINIO, O.-P. (2016). VIRTUE: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Cascade Books.