Ancient Virtue Ethics

Abstract Ancient virtue ethics had a different aim and conceptual procedure than “pure” virtue ethics. It aimed not to secure the foundation of ethical concepts but to cultivate wisdom in its practitioners. And its procedure was to explore the conceptual landscape of an ethical outlook with special interest in the qualities of the well-formed human being. Socrates pursued this practice through conceptually intense and probing conversations with his contemporaries that managed to get rather “personal”: His interlocutors often felt impelled to a self-directed moral inventory that left them deflated and self-aware but challenged to improve themselves. Aristotle wrote treatises on the well-lived human life that centered on such virtue concepts as justice, courage, temperance, and practical wisdom, as well as less major virtues, with the aim of helping himself and others to live their lives well. Somewhat later, Seneca the Stoic wrote treatises and personal letters exploring such topics as mercy, anger, and gratitude, with the aim of helping people live the Stoic life.