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Prudence and other “selfish” virtues are not paradoxical; they are what make the other-directed virtues possible.
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@VirtueSophist Statements like this are why virtue ethics seem kind of nonsensical to me.
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@PyrrhicRational I think a lot of people feel that way. But I hope your exposure extends beyond a few tweets from me!
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@VirtueSophist It does. But what were you getting at? Something like the old Gordon Gekko “greed is good”?
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@PyrrhicRational Hardly. It’s more that we have a responsibility to ourselves.
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@PyrrhicRational If we do not attend to it, we cannot fulfill our responsibilities to others.
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@VirtueSophist That sounds more reasonable than what I thought you were saying. But highly ambiguous.
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@VirtueSophist At what point do we stop being greedy and start being altruistic?
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@PyrrhicRational We should never stop being either. Or rather, we’re never really either. We should be prudent but also charitable.
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@VirtueSophist But there are trade-offs. I can spend $1 of compensation on myself or on others.
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@VirtueSophist I can spend time trying to further my career or volunteering at the local soup kitchen. #tradeoffs
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@PyrrhicRational Eudaimonia (the good life/human flourishing) requires striking a balance between the virtues. Unbalanced, each is toxic.
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@VirtueSophist But how do you strike that balance?
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@PyrrhicRational No one said this was easy!
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@VirtueSophist But what’s the criteria for success?
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@PyrrhicRational Again, eudaimonia, the good life, human flourishing. It’s not a hard, precise target.
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@VirtueSophist Precision aside, it sounds to me like all the virtues are selfish, even the “other-directed” ones.
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@PyrrhicRational This is something that there has been a (millenia) long debate about which I cannot possible do justice to on Twitter.
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@PyrrhicRational But what the hell, here goes nothing.
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@PyrrhicRational In my opinion this is perspectival, and not very interesting. Virtue Ethics is about being virtuous for its own sake.
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@PyrrhicRational It’s not really FOR eudaimonia, eudaimonia is simply the endpoint.
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@PyrrhicRational One who has balanced the virtues would sacrifice material success, and their life, should the circumstances call for it.
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@PyrrhicRational Moreover, the presence of a truly virtuous person is a boon to their family, their friends, and their community
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@PyrrhicRational But I suppose you could say it’s selfish. Epicurus is counted among the ancient fathers of virtue ethics,
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@PyrrhicRational and he explicitly idealized personal happiness; this is why history has branded him a “hedonist”.
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@PyrrhicRational (though his idea of happiness looks pretty boring compared to how we moderns talk about it)
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@PyrrhicRational I just don’t think that’s a very useful way to think about it, honestly.
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@VirtueSophist It still sounds vaguely utilitarian to me. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
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@PyrrhicRational Well, Virtue Ethics way predates Bentham. So perhaps it’s the other way around? (Though I doubt it)
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@VirtueSophist Think I’m probably going to need to process this before I have a meaningful response.
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@VirtueSophist My biggest problem with Virtue Ethics, when it comes right down to it, is it seems kind of mystical.
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@VirtueSophist Where do the virtues come from? Are they biological?
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@PyrrhicRational Excellent questions. I’ve got to run though, so we’ll have to pick up on this some other time. Good talking with you.
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