Essay on Virtue as Habit - 3751 Words

Virtue as Habit The aim of this essay is to examine the following question. Does it make a difference in moral psychology whether one adopts Aristotles ordinary or Immanuel Kants revisionist definition of virtue as a moral habit? Suppose it is objected, at the outset, that these definitions cannot be critically compared because their moral theories are, respectively, aposteriori and apriori, and so incommensurable. Two points of commensurability and grounds for comparative evaluation are two basic problems that any theory in moral psychology must address. They are moral ignorance (I dont know what I ought to do) and weakness (I dont do what I know I ought to do).(1) In the Nicomachean Ethics (hereafter Ethics), Aristotle†¦show more content†¦. . uniformity of action which by frequent repetition has become a necessity, then it is not a skill proceeding from freedom and accordingly not a moral skill (66). Further, inner freedom is a rational self-control which enables one to subdue ones emotions and to govern ones passions (67). Essential here is his claim that a virtue is not a free skill unless it is a free act of a moral will which in adopting a rule also declares it to be a universal law (66-67). Kants concept of willing (i) freely and (ii) universally leads to his revisionist definition of virtue as moral habit. The key to (i) is to be found in his insistence on the cognitive certainty of the following metaphysical thesis. Even if the phenomenal self is completely determined causally, the moral self is free because it is noumenal (see the Critique of Practical Reason 28-34, 43-52, 55-59, 100-106; hereafter Practical Reason). He claims that the noumenal self is a cause imminent in experience because it is an efficient cause through Ideas (50). In short, Kant rejects the formation of moral habits through repetition in order to protect radically the freedom of the moral agent from phenomenal and scientific determinism. The key to (ii) is Kants rejection of Aristotles following advice. Since the cognitive results of a kind of reasoning is determined by its subject matter, it is foolish to require of moral reasoning the certainty and precision one can expectShow MoreRelatedVirtue Vs. Moral Virtue938 Words   |  4 PagesWhat is virtue? Is it something we can all comprehend? Is it part of our sou l, mind or bodies? Perhaps it’s a type of lifestyle where we act a certain way and treat everyone equally. Or maybe it’s a belief or religion which carries its own sets of rules and regulations. Many individuals are mistaken for the true definition of virtue; virtue is a theory used to make moral decisions which leads to happiness. 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