Is Ethics Based on Character?: Character-based Ethics
Until recent decades modern ethics was dominated by two approaches that focus on action. The movement that focuses on character rather than action has come to be known as virtue ethics. Looking at ethics in terms of who you are and how your life is ...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Using Virtue Ethics in Complex Situations
In contrast to utilitarianism and Kantianism, virtue ethics is helpful in making sound judgments in complex situations. The virtue at work here is what Aristotle calls phronesis-- practical intelligence or wisdom. You learn for yourself why it is im...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Virtue Ethics--A Learned Skill
In ancient philosophy, virtues are often compared to skills. Each of the basic parts of human nature has its own special virtue or standard of how people ought to be. As a guideline Aristotle recommends seeking the mean or middle course between extr...
What is Human Nature?: Plato's View of Human Nature
In 4th century B.C.E. Athens the philosopher Plato tries to define the basic parts of human nature using the metaphor of a charioteer and his pair of winged horses. He believes that a human being is essentially a soul with three parts: the rational ...
What is Philosophy?: Socrates and His Method
Perhaps the most famous example of how "to do" philosophy was provided by Plato's teacher, Socrates. Socrates loved to be with people, to talk with them, argue with them, and ask them what they thought about a variety of subjects. In Plato's Apology...
What is Philosophy?: Plato's Myth of the Cave; Its Relevance Today
Plato's parable of the cave, written in the 4th century B.C.E., portrays how philosophy works. In the parable prisoners sit in the bottom of a cave, their heads chained so they can only see shadows cast by objects moving in front of a fire. We are l...
What is Philosophy?: Socrates on Trial
Socrates, accused of impiety, undermining faith in the traditional gods, and corrupting the youth of Athens, is tried before a jury of 500 Athenians. He describes how he became involved in philosophy and challenges Thrasymachus who claims that justi...