时间 10/25 (星期一），晚上，7pm-9pm

10/26（星期二）晚上，7pm-9pm

10/27（星期三）晚上7pm-9pm

10/28（星期四）晚上7pm-9pm

10/29（星期五）晚上7pm-9pm

地点：小报告厅（如有改动，另行通知）

报告人：加尔文学院Christina Van Dyke教授。Van Dyke任职于美国加尔文学院哲学系。她2000年毕业于康奈尔大学哲学系，获得博士学位。主要研究领域包括中世纪哲学、古代哲学、性别哲学。

Course Description:

For most of the 20^thcentury, Western philosophers focused almost exclusively on two main ethical theories: John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism (which claims that you should do what will contribute to the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people) and Immanuel Kant’s deontology (which claims that you should fulfill your duty as formulated by the Categorical Imperative). Aristotle’s virtue ethics (which claims that you should do what will contribute to your virtuous character and a good life) was generally dismissed as too idealistic and self-centered. Virtue ethics is currently making a comeback, however, especially among philosophers interested in how ethics relates to human nature. In this course, I will present Thomas Aquinas (1224/5-1274) as a philosopher who does a particularly effective job providing a systematic account of the virtues required for a good life—and whose virtue ethics is neither too idealistic nor self-centered.

Lecture One: Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Virtue Ethics

The theory of virtue ethics makes more sense when you contrast it with other ethical theories. This first class will lay out the basic principles of utilitarianism and deontology, looking at both the advantages and the disadvantages of these two major ethical theories. Virtue ethics has a different focus—a focus on character and overall well-being, rather than on particular actions. The final part of this lecture will discuss how this focus requires understanding what human beings are, in order to know what will contribute most to human well-being and moral behavior.

Lecture Two: The Metaphysics of Human Nature

This lecture will address Thomas Aquinas’s answer to the question: “Who are we?”, as the first step towards understanding what we should do—that is, the first step towards understanding his ethical theory. The lecture will focus particularly on the extent to which Aquinas sees our intellectual and physical nature as integrated. On his account, human beings are materialandimmaterial; we are the only animals who are rational. Also, the living human body is, in a very important sense, the human being. It is not surprising, then, that Aquinas believes that human actions have both intellectual and physical components.

Lecture Three: Actions, Ends, and Habits

The focus of this lecture is Thomas Aquinas’s explanation of how and why human beings do what they do. What moves human beings to act in the first place, and what roles do their desires, dreams, and goals play in their choices? We will discuss how the human capacities of intellect, will, and the passions interact to produce human action. Human action is extremely important for Aquinas’s virtue ethics, because virtues and vices are the result of habits, and habits are formed by repeated performance of individual actions. Habit formation and issues of moral responsibility also raise questions about when—if ever—our actions are free.

Lecture Four: The Virtues

This lecture examines Aquinas’s general account of virtue: habits formed by repeated action, aimed at the good of the human being. It surveys the different types of virtues—including distinctions between intellectual and moral virtues, and theological and cardinal virtues—as well as looking closely at several virtues that are especially important for living the good life. We will discuss whether Aquinas’s virtue ethics is too idealistic, and also whether it requires being overly self-centered.

Lecture Five: Virtue and Vice

In this final lecture, we will continue our examination of Aquinas’s virtue ethics by looking at his account of character formation—for good and for bad. How can we become morally good people? How would we become morally bad? What will life look like for the virtuous and for the vicious person? We will end the course by discussing whether virtue ethics can support people acting for the common good of all, and how that society might function.