What Knowledge is Necessary for Virtue?

Abstract

Critics contend that Aristotelianism demands too much of the virtuous person in the way of knowledge to be credible. This general charge is usually directed against either of two of Aristotelianism’s apparent claims about the necessary conditions for the possession of a single virtue, namely that 1) one must know what all the other virtues require, and 2) one must also be the master of a preternatural range of technical/empirical knowledge. I argue that Aristotelianism does indeed have a very high standard when it comes to the knowledge necessary for the full possession of a virtue, in both of these respects. However, focus on the necessary conditions for full virtue tends to obscure an important fact: some kinds of knowledge are much more important to various virtues than others are. A proper appreciation of the significance of this fact will go a long way toward answering critics’ worries about Aristotelianism’s knowledge requirements.

Using practical wisdom to facilitate ethical decision-making: a major empirical study of phronesis in the decision narratives of doctors

“…A virtuous act “hits the target” by deriving an understanding of the situation and acknowledging all its pertinent features [ 22 ]:11] and in so doing requires moral judgement to discern how to act wisely. Our findings mean practice virtue ethics and phronesis can be used to complement other ethical approaches and clinical knowledge, leading to treatment plans/decisions that consider the particularities in each case.…”

“…compassion drives her to give an optimistic assessment to a patient and honesty drives her to tell the truth), phronesis helps put virtues in the “proper order of priority and to make the right and good decision in the most difficult situation” [ 21 ]:382]. In the ‘people professions’ the culture of mere compliance to rules and guidelines [ 14 , 22 ] tends to oversimplify the complex clinical situation, making patients single-pathology entities rather than the multifaceted (medically and socially) humans they are, who require a holistic approach. Focussing on the patient as a person is imperative; science alone is not enough to understand the complexity of the case [ 21 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Using practical wisdom to facilitate ethical decision-making: a major empirical study of phronesis in the decision narratives of doctors

“…Practitioners note that the growing use of ever-closer codi cation/guidelines of good medical practice is not able to take into account the complexity of caring for patients with multiple comorbidities and within di cult contexts [27]. The culture of mere compliance to rules and guidelines [21,22] tends to oversimplify the complex clinical situation, making patients single-pathology entities rather than the multifaceted (medically and socially) humans they are. They require a holistic approach, focussing on the person of the patient is imperative; science alone is not enough to understand the complexity of the case [41,20,42].…”

On Algorithmic Opacity and Moral Certainty

“…Briefly summarized, virtue ethics are preoccupied with traits of character and consistent behavior rather than purposeful actions underpinned by reasoning in each particular case (e.g., be honest, charitable or generous and act accordingly). They are about the personal dispositions and character, socially perceived characteristics in the context of local or global practice and social life (Walker, 1989;Aberdein, 2014;Bailey, 2017;Curren, 2019).…”