1. Virtue Ethics

2. Jane comes to cheer you up in the hospital in order to fulfill her sense of duty to the notion of friendship and its practices. Utilitarian thinks this is….. Ethical Egoist thinks this is…. Kantian thinks this is…. Is Jane a “true friend?”

3. What does it mean to….. Have courage vs. be a courageous person. Behave like a true friend vs. be a true friend. Do good vs. be good.

4. Is Millie a “Good” Person? Tells the truth, even when pressured to lie. Rescued a drowning child. Donates time to a local charity. Visits her aunt in a nursing home. Believes that truth-telling earns her a heavenly- reward. Hope her courage would earn he fame. Good photo-op for campaign for city council. Hopes to inherit her aunt’s fortune.

5. Telos What are people for? What does it mean “to flourish?” (eudaimonia) What kinds of lifestyles/behaviors promote human flourishing and what kinds of lifestyles/behaviors diminish human flourishing?

6. Aristotle All things have “telos” (a design and purpose). To “actualize” telos is to “flourish.” The telos of the human being is actualize excellence in living (arête) by acting in accordance to the Golden Mean of moderation. Aristotle: We “become” by doing: “By practicing virtue we learn it, just as the builder learns to build...We become just by doing just acts, temperate by temperate acts.” “It is clear that he who acts must have knowledge, he must choose his act, and his act must proceed from his character. So, just actions are those the just man does.“

7. Becoming Good Does performing a good action mean you are a good person? Does performing good actions make you a good person? Is becoming morally strong similar to becoming physically strong?

9. Virtue Ethics (excellence of character) Are people inherently “good” or do they learn how to be “good?” Plato (@400 BCE) : Compelled to rediscover through contemplation the eternal knowledge of the Good forgotten during the trauma of birth (wisdom). Since all being comes from the Good, all truth is within (the soul). Once one discovers the Good, one cannot help but act in accordance with the Good since it is in one’s nature to do so.