Exemplar

According to the ethical theory known as “virtue ethics,” a view that, in Western philosophy, we trace to Aristotle, the question, when it comes to matters of right and wrong, isn’t, as with other theories, “What makes right acts right?” (“And wrong acts wrong?”); it’s “What sort of person should I be?”

Virtue ethics is concerned with the development of a virtuous character.  The idea, basically, is that acting ethically is a matter of training and habit; a person should develop the proper dispositions to do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.  Thus, the virtuous life is the happiest life, because the virtuous person takes the most pleasure in behaving virtuously.

Because ethics, then, becomes a matter of character, not principle, developing a virtuous character involves, at least at first, emulating the behavior of truly virtuous people.  On my road to becoming a better person, I should follow the lead of my moral exemplar, or what is sometimes known as my “paragon of virtue.”  

When faced with a question about how I should behave in a given situation, I should ask myself, “What would my paragon of virtue do in this case?”  By following their lead, I will train myself to develop a kind of moral “muscle memory” so that, eventually, I will automatically choose to do the right thing is such situations—and I’ll take great pleasure from doing so.

All of this is to explain why I advocated for visiting the newest Seattle city park along the north side of Portage Bay last evening.  “What would Moira do?” I asked and the answer was obvious.  This paragon of virtue when it comes to riding bikes would have led us to a new public space, I’m pretty sure, and she would have, as we did, taken one of the least efficient ways to get there, with as many hills as could be built in as possible.

See how fun virtue is?