Outline and Illustrate the View That Virtue Is Its Own Reward Essay Example

some positive end or ideal situation, with this aim being happiness (Greek term – eudaimonia).

This happiness is not pleasure as such but more like well being or flourishing fulfilment. He argued that this happiness was achieved by exercising the unique human faculty which is reason. He reasoned that self-interest is a constituent of a happy life. Using this very reason, we are lead to Aristotle’s doctrine of ‘the mean’, he argues that excess is to be avoided and that human beings should moderate their behaviour in order to flourish. Virtues are the traits of character which cause us to act ‘for the right reasons’.

He uses the analogy of an archer to illustrate this, saying that the moral virtues, guided by reason enable us to hit the target. He said that we must practice the virtues and acquire them through following role models of virtuous people. This idea can be illustrated by the idea of playing an instrument; one receives instruction from wise experts and by practising until they develop the skill to a degree of excellence. In the same way, virtues will eventually become our habit and, like good music, should flow naturally.