How to Apply Virtue Ethics to Daily Life

The broadest area of my life that requires certain virtues in order to do well is friendship. To be a good friend demands virtue; the bond of friendship can be easily broken when a person exhibits poor moral character. One reason why friendship depends on virtue is that friendship also requires trust. A friend is called someone who we can lean on, or whose shoulder we can cry on. In order to lean on someone, we need to be vulnerable with that person and vulnerability requires trust. The “telos” of friendship is rooted in the basic human need for intimacy, connection with others, and a healthy social life. Having close friends also leads to what Aristotle called eudaimonia, which means “happiness” or “flourishing,” (Hursthouse, 2016, p. 1). A person does not need to be extraverted, or around people all the time to experience eudaimonia but does at some point need to have a handful of people who can be called upon in times of need, or people who one simply shares a deep connection with in life.
Friendship is connected also with the concept of civic and moral duty, which is where Aristotle’s virtue ethics align most with Kant’s deontological ethics. As Sandel (2012) points out, “civic duties are not private property but public responsibilities. To outsource them is to demean them, to value them in the wrong way,” (p. 1). Sandel (2012) focuses on the ways the world is moving towards the commodification of everything, coming dangerously close to even the commodification of friendship, of parenthood, and of citizenship. When we use friends, or buy friends, use money to manipulate others, or use money to have power in a relationship, we are undermining the telos of friendship. The main meaning and function of friendship is eudaimonia, not power. When people commodify their relationships with not just their close friends but their neighbors and fellow citizens, they are not acting in accordance with the principles of virtue, and are not going to be happy in the long run. The film Groundhog Day deftly illustrates the importance of virtue in all our human relationships.
Several of the most contentious political debates have to do with the need for more virtue in our civic affairs. The healthcare debate is a prime example. People should not be able to buy their way into a healthier life; we as citizens should vow to take care of one another through a system that values overall quality of life and compassion versus personal gain. While it would be wrong to oversimplify the complex issues at stake in healthcare reform, virtue ethics do show how individual citizens can learn how a market-driven mentality like Sandel (2012) describes is causing deep unhappiness in the society. Disconnection and anomie have crept into the public consciousness in America to the point where senseless violence is an almost daily occurrence. Far from promoting happiness, the pursuit of profit in all areas of life is severely undermining our reason for being alive.
The specific virtues one needs to thrive as a friend or as a citizen of the world include compassion, honesty, temperance, and humility. Compassion refers to having both an open mind and open heart. If we judge others, we prevent ourselves from ever reaching that state of interpersonal harmony and understanding that precedes eudaimonia. Honesty is of course a cornerstone of human relationships, essential for trust and intimacy, which lead to eudaimonia. When we lie to one another, we display disrespect. Lying is a type of passive-aggressive behavior. Temperance means moderation, which helps guide our behavior in friendships or other public affairs. We need to give our friends space, rather than smothering them or being needy. Finally, humility is a virtue that often gets overlooked in the society. Being humble means taking pleasure in learning new things. Arrogance is the opposite of humility. People who are arrogant believe they are better than everyone else, which prevents friendships from being based on equality and respect.




References

Albert, T. (Producer), & Ramis, H. (Director). (1993). Groundhog day [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. Roger Crisp. http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam032/99036947.pdf
Hursthouse, R. (2016). Virtue ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/#FormVirtEthi
Sandel, M.J. (2012). What isn’t for sale? The Atlantic. April 2012. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/what-isnt-for-sale/308902/