Virtue theory

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cardinal virtues
- Prudence
  - Justice
    - Bravery
      - Temperance
- Virtue theory
  - Good point
    - It centres ethics on the person and what it means to be human
    - It includes the whole of a person's life
  - Bad points
    - It doesn't provide clear guidance on what to do in moral dilemmas
      - Solution
        although it does provide general guidance on how to be a good person
    - here is no general agreement on what the virtues are
  - Virtue ethics is person rather than action based: it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of particular actions.
  - Virtue ethics not only deals with the rightness or wrongness of individual actions, it provides guidance as to the sort of characteristics and behaviours a good person will seek to achieve.
  - A good person is someone who lives virtuously - who possesses and lives the virtues.
An action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances.
- A virtuous person is a person who acts virtuously
  - A person acts virtuously if they "possess and live the virtues"
    - A virtue is a moral characteristic that a person needs to live well.

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