Virtue And Regulation - Hurst House Virtue Ethics Specification

Rosalind Hursthouse is one of the most famous virtuous ethical philosophers in current west. She makes virtues as the core concepts and justifies her ethical views systematically through the relationship between happiness and virtues.Virtuous ethics has been described as a theory lacking of independence which cannot be used to conduct our action, so it is not a normative ethics. But Hursthouse regards the concepts of virtues just as right/wrong which can conduct and evaluate our actions and as the same theoretical values. The virtuous must act characteristically according to her characters. And virtues evaluate her action. In practice, it is often difficult to use right/wrong to evaluate all the actions. In contrast with it, virtues can make better evaluations. So the concept of virtue may be better than right/wrong.Virtues are reliable and permanent characters. We can predict an honest agent must action honestly according to her virtues. So moral motivation cannot come from the duties or rules, but from the agent’s real understanding of virtues that is, her characters. According to virtue ethics, moral education is so important that it not only teaches duties or rules but also cares about how to foster our characters.Many people think we don’t need emotions in our actions because they have no use even mislead us to do wrong. But Hursthouse thinks virtues include emotions and desires which is the part of human rationality and participates in reason and prompt our actions. An agent who expresses a proper emotion in coincidence with her characters or virtues can be called a virtuous agent and her action can be evaluated as virtuous.According to Hursthouse,"The virtues benefit their possessor."includes (1) They enable her to flourish and live well;(2) Human beings need the virtues to live well like a characteristic human life;(3) They are interrelated. In order to live well or flourish, human beings must live a virtuous lives. And human beings with virtues can live well and happiness justifies which character is a virtue.She also thinks that ethical naturalism provides four end, that is,(1) the individual survival,(2) the continuance of the species;(3) characteristic freedom from pain and characteristic enjoyment;(4) the good functioning of the social group)—in the ways characteristic of the species. That means virtues must develop the four ends. It is harmonious between the morality and the human nature and there isn’t any conflict when human beings desire to live well. On the contrary, virtues helps us live well. Ⅰ think Hursthouse overcomes the critics that virtue ethics is not objective and normative to some extent. Her theory is persuasive to response to questions about virtue ethics and proves that virtue ethics is normative.