Virtue and Habit II
Continuing Aristotle's virtue ethics, this session discusses the importance of acting virtuously for its own sake and with pleasure. It connects Julia Annas's work to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow.
Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature (PHIL 181)
Although we become virtuous by acting as the virtuous person does, a close reading of Aristotle's text shows that, on his account, it is not enough to be virtuous that we act in certain ways. What's needed, according to Aristotle, is that you knowingly act virtuously for its own sake from a stable character, and do so with pleasure. Professor Gendler turns to Julia Annas's suggestion that Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's idea of flow may be helpful in characterizing the condition that you take pleasure in the virtuous act. Finally, a critique of virtue ethics from John Doris and situationist psychology is raised which offers experimental evidence that casts doubt on the existence of stable character traits.