“It is no longer profitable to do moral philosophy”. So wrote Elisabeth Anscombe in 1958. For Barry Schwartz’s brilliant introductory lecture on virtue ethics click here.

Her argument in a nutshell was that morality of law had driven ethical thinking into a blind alley. Having lost our divine anchor – no longer accepting the commands of God as the foundation of ethics – we had placed some idea of the moral law at the centre of ethics which lacked any coherent philosophical basis. The Kantian and utilitarian experiments had failed.

So began the rehabilitation of virtue ethics. Originating which Greek and Roman philosophers such as Aristotle and Cicero, virtue ethics maintains that right action stems from good character. The virtues are habits of character which by practice, education and the emulation of heroes become second nature so that we act by a kind of virtuous instinct in a way that is appropriate to the circumstances.

Take the virtue of love for example. We have all seen how indulgent love ruins lives and how people who are over-altruistic end up being treated like doormats. We need the right sort of love – tough love if you like – that knows how to treat people appropriately “in the right way on the right kind of issue”. It can be loving to be very angry with a child who behaves selfishly, dangerously or thoughtlessly, and it can be very unloving to be angry with a child just because we have a headache. We can’t turn that into rules.

Barry Schwartz in a brilliant ten minute lecture demolishes the argument that those who exercise virtue, particularly the key moral virtue of phronesis (practical wisdom, prudence or right judgement) don’t know what exactly to do in different situations. He gives the example of the job description of a hospital cleaner which describes step by step what you mop, clean, and how you do it, but says nothing of how you relate to people and how much the cleaner is also a carer. The job description tells you what to do, but not what to be.

So part of the invisible job description involves the cleaner exercising kindness and care – to the right person for the right length of time- a judgement you have to make. Try turning this into a rule and we find it impossible to legislate for every circumstance where kindness is necessary, but it remains the ethical core of what it means to do such a job well.

And ultimately that’s what virtue ethics is all about: living well, doing well, or, to use the other Greek word, building eudaimonia, the flourishing life and the flourishing community.

Click here to see Barry Schwartz’s lecture, a brilliant ten minute introduction to virtue ethics.

Image copyright the author, British Museum