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Aristotle and Habituation: Is Virtue Really Attainable Without God's Help

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Aristotle and Habituation: Is Virtue Really Attainable Without God's Help Liberty University School of Divinity Aristotle and Habituation: Is Virtue Really Attainable Without God’s Help? A Dissertation Submitted to The Faculty of Liberty University School of Divinity in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Roy M. Mattson Lynchburg, Virginia June 2019 Contents Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………....v Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………vi Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 Human Nature and Moral Psychology………………………………….…3 Preliminary Assumptions……………………………………………..…...5 What is New About This Thesis?................................................................6 An Outline……………………………………………………………..…..8 Chapter 2 Virtue, Moral Psychology and Other Key Concepts………………………… 10 Virtue Ethics vs Virtue…………………………………………...............10 Virtue Action vs A Virtue Person…………............................................. 12 Moral Psychology…………...................................................................... 14 Religious Influence, A Flawed Nature & Transformation.........................19 How Aristotle Defines Virtue.................................................................... 21 Kant’s View of Virtue Compared to Aristotle………............................... 24 Mill’s View of Virtue Compared to Aristotle………................................ 26 Contemporary Views of Virtue………...................................................... 27 A Consensus View of Virtue and Comments............................................ 29 The Virtuous Person…………………………………………..… 33 Virtue, Continence and “Decent”.............................................................. 34 Chapter 3 The Importance of Virtue………………………………………………...…… 36 The Relationship of Virtue to Happiness...................................................36 Aristotle on Virtue and Happiness………………………………. 37 Kant on Virtue and Happiness………………………………...… 39 Mill on Virtue and Happiness………………………………….... 41 Virtue is Essential to a Healthy Self-Image............................................... 44 Lack of Virtue is Self-Destructive............................................................. 48 ii Chapter 4 Aristotle’s Moral Psychology & Habituation……………...…………………. 57 Aristotle’s Moral Psychology: The Soul……………………………..…. 58 Vice & Incontinence…………………………………………………..… 62 Habituation: The Foundation of Virtue......................................................65 Aristotle’s Ethics – Some Praise and Some Questions………………….. 71 Is Aristotelian Habituation Realistic?............................................ 72 Would Aristotelian Habituation Work?......................................... 75 Chapter 5 Critiquing Aristotle’s Moral Psychology & Habituation………………….… 78 Aristotle is Too Elitist, Making Virtue Reliant on Moral Luck……..….. 79 Elitism Leads to Reliance on Moral Luck………………………. 80 Mankind’s Historical Record – Plenty of Vice, Little Virtue....................83 Pervasive Violence.........................................................................84 Genocide………............................................................................ 92 The Banality of Lying, Cheating, and Stealing………..................96 Lack of Love and Commitment………....................................... 100 Inability to Sacrifice Self............................................................. 102 Social Science Struggles to Find Virtue……………………………….. 106 Social Science and Virtue............................................................ 108 Moral Luck……………………………………………………………...118 Analysis of the Human Moral Track Record…………………………... 119 Chapter 6 Moral Transformation and the Possibility of Virtue……………………….. 121 Why Virtue is Rare and Hard to Verify...................................................122 Why a Supernatural Transformation?...................................................... 124 The Most Famous Transformation - Paul…………………………….... 127 Paul, Virtue, and Habituation……………………….…………………..131 From Wisdom Cult to Saint - Augustine................................................. 133 Augustine, Virtue, and Habituation......................................................... 137 The Power of ‘Amazing Grace’ – John Newton...................................... 139 John Newton, Virtue, and Habituation.................................................... 144 iii A Rebel Without a Cause – Franklin Graham......................................... 146 Franklin Graham, Virtue, and Habituation.............................................. 152 Transformation, Virtue, and Moral Luck................................................. 154 What about? ............................................................................................ 155 Chapter 7 Summary and Conclusion……………………….......……………………….. 157 The Importance of Virtue.........................................................................157 A Definition of Virtue.............................................................................. 160 Aristotle, Virtue, and Habituation……………………………................ 161 Human Nature is Flawed and Habituation is No Remedy……………... 163 Moral Transformation & Virtue……………………………...................167 Is Christianity Necessary for Virtue?................................……………... 168 Conclusion................................………………………………………... 170 Bibliography……………………….......……………………………………………………… 173 iv Acknowledgments I must acknowledge that but for the grace of God this dissertation could not have been completed. I discovered along the way that I lack many of the virtues and disciplines necessary to complete and excel at a project like this. I trust that God will continue to work on my behalf and make this treatise profitable to all that take the time to read it. Second only to the Almighty was the support and encouragement of my lovely and infinitely patient wife, Tammy. My work and sacrifices pale in comparison to hers. She pampered me, cared for every member of our growing family (4 children, 3 married, and 5 grandchildren) and cared for my mother as well. She is truly an exceptionally talented and virtuous woman; her children rise up and bless her, as do I. I am indebted to the kindness and diligence of my committee, Dr. Edward Martin (chair), Dr. David Beck and Dr. Richard Holland. Their comments and suggestions eliminated all manner of missteps from which all other readers have been spared. Finally, I am very grateful for Liberty University. The faculty is outstanding and they made it possible to pursue a very challenging topic. Liberty plays an important educational role in a society that no longer appreciates the interdependence of faith and reason. To all those that make Liberty University possible, please accept my sincere thanks. v Abstract We are by nature moral beings who desire virtue.1 This fact is borne out by innumerable studies.2 Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics remain among the most influential works on ethics and human moral psychology. Aristotle claims that human beings can develop good character traits and achieve virtue with the appropriate upbringing (what Aristotle called habituation). Much of what Aristotle says about character traits, virtue, and habituation is accepted today and inspires character education.3 Yet recent results in experimental psychology challenge the notion of character traits and virtue as understood by Aristotle. 4 The challenge is the abundance of evidence showing that almost all human beings lie, cheat, steal, and harm others; we lack virtue. Christian Miller captures the problem when he says, “the burden is on the Aristotelian to show how realizing such a normative ideal is psychologically realistic for beings like us.”5 This dissertation argues that virtue is not a realistic ideal for us absent God’s help. I contend that Aristotle was mistaken about human nature and the power of a good upbringing to create good character traits and achieve virtue. Further, I assert that Aristotle’s mistake has been incorporated into the secular western world view and contemporary character education 1 Jan-Willem Van Prooijen and Paul A. M. Van Lange, Cheating, Corruption, and Concealment: The Roots of Dishonesty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 2. Also note the relationship between virtue and happiness noted in Chapter 3 of this dissertation. 2 Ben M. Tappin and Ryan T. McKay, “The Illusion of Moral Superiority,” Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8 no. 6 (2017): 624. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ 10.1177/1948550616673878 (accessed June 9, 2018). Also see Shaul Shalvi, Francesca Gino, Rachel Barkan and Shahar Ayal, “Self-Serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, no. 2 (April 6, 2015): 126, https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ 10.1177/ 0963721414553264 (accessed June 3, 2018). 3 David I. Walker, Michael P. Roberts and Kristján Kristjánsson, “Towards a New Era of Character Education in Theory and in Pracice,” Educational Review, 67 no. 1 (2015): 87-88. DOI:10.1080/00131911.2013.827631 (accessed October 26, 2018). 4 Christian B. Miller, Character & Moral Psychology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 189. 5 Ibid., 207. vi methodologies. The error is a total disregard, even disdain, for the role of God in human moral development. That said, there is much to like about Aristotle’s ethics and moral psychology. Aristotle thinks virtue and happiness are integrally related, and happiness is universally desired. This makes virtue incredibly important. Aristotle thinks virtue combines practical reason
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