What Did Virtues Ignore? From “The End of Virtue
See What Did Virtues Give Rise To? from “The End of Virtue” — Everything Comes — Medium http://buff.ly/1ciPHC2
It has generally been suggested that we have moved toward civilization. In point of fact, we have done so only because there was a consistent push-back against the forces noted in the last section.
These forces are war, tribalism, nationalism, religious bigotry, snobbery, mob behavior and false accusations.
The values that trump a virtue ethic are non-idolatry, tolerance, helpulness and democracy.
The primacy of non-idolatry means that the goals of freedom, love, truth and beauty are not collapsed into idolatrous enclosures. They are not for some but not for others, They are universal core values. They are reality itself. They are lodged within our conscience. They make us persons of possibility. They are the basis of our capacity to choose. They are what was ignored by Aristotle and his followers.
It is worth stating in a few sentences each, the explicit way in which a virtue ethic has failed.
VALUES
Non-idolatry
Non-idolatry is the foundation of scientific method. It is a way of saying that creation unfolds as we discover its wonders. It is a summons to respect the entire creation, all of reality, as both something we understand and know and as something that remains a mystery. We may plumb it over time, but we should be humbled by the fact that we can never know more than a fragment of all there is to know and all that may yet be understood and discovered. The non-idolatrous person worships no idols.
Tolerance
Tolerance is a universal value. It explicitly warrants the inclusion of all. By embracing tolerance one affirms in oneself the strength to deal with diversities of experiences, difficulties of existence and the twists and turns of life. It is ontological. It is an active value accessible to all. By practicing it, we are in touch with what is universal and good.
Helpfulness
Helpfulness is more than picking up a paper for someone who has trouble bending down. It is the entire constellation of things needed to ensure that all on earth have the freedom and dignity they are owed. Helpfulness enables a person to choose and live a life that aspires to the goals noted below.
Democracy
Democracy is the social among the three active values. Democracy reminds us that we are, before we realize individuality, part of the community. Democracy sees that we are fallible. We need constitutions and rules to protect us from ourselves when we misuse freedom and lapse into ways that are evil.
Evil ways include intolerance, unhelpfulness and opposing democracy. They include selfishness and thoughtlessness. They move toward ganging up and eventually inflicting injury and even death.
Democracy is the fair form of governance. It is the sacred right of every person on the planet.
ONTOLOGICAL (TELEOLOGICAL) GOALS
Love
Love that can be reached almost from the beginning. It generates freedom. It’s a source of help. It honors the freedom of others. It is goodness.
Freedom
Freedom and love go together even when conditions make freedom difficult. The highest state we can attain is one in which these freedom and love are fused. They create a light that shines within and beyond.
Truth
Truth is more than who fired the shot. Or how many hits did he get. Or how much does she make? It is more than facts. It is the reality of things as they are intended to be. Truth is truth when fused with beauty. It then becomes, as Keats said, all you know on earth. And all you need to know.
Beauty
Beauty is goodness when true. Truth and beauty are wed, fused, unified when actions and expressions aim at them. When we allow truth and beauty to be among the things we highlight in our meditation, we are on track to an ethic built on a strong foundation.
Reality
Ethics
Aesthetics
Virtue ethics ignores almost all the considerations on this page.
You will not find these values in virtue ethics. You will find characteristics. It is better by far to act according to the universal values that should guide every person on the planet.
