ENACTING VIRTUE Margaret Róisín Hampson UCL A thesis presented for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2017 I, Margaret Róisín Hampson, confrm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confrm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ……..………………………………………………… 1 2 ABSTRACT Tis thesis is about how we develop as moral agents and come to realise the virtuous activity on which fourishing depends. Aristotle’s account of how this is effected is familiar: we become virtuous through practice of the actions in which virtue fnds its expression. But how should we understand the difference between the doings of the learner and the activity of the virtuous agent, and what is it that happens when a learner does these things that results in her realisation of virtuous activity? Whilst both agents perform virtuous actions, the two are engaged in different activities: one is in the process of acquiring a disposition, the other is engaged in its exercise. But we can also see each as related to the actions they perform in different ways. Te learner is not yet the author of her actions in the strict sense that the virtuous agent is, who chooses these actions as an expression of a settled way of seeing and valuing things; indeed, the learner’s actions stand in the relation of copy to those of the virtuous agent, or so I argue. How, then, does the learner’s practice of these alienable actions result in her becoming an author of virtuous actions in the strict sense? I argue that by seeing the learner as engaged in the imitation of a virtuous agent we can begin to explain this transition. In imitating a virtuous agent and adopting her perspective, the learner is positioned so as to perceive the value of virtuous action, and thus to discover its attraction. With the aid of Aristotle’s psychological works, I offer a picture of the learner’s habituation which shows how it is that through acting, her perceptions, desires and other capacities are shaped in such a way that she comes eventually to perceive things and to act in the way that the virtuous agent does. 3 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... 8 A Note on Pronouns ............................................................................................................................. 10 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 11 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Becoming Virtuous ........................................................................................................................... 13 Nicomachean Ethics II 1 .................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter Overview ............................................................................................................................ 17 1 BECOMING A VIRTUOUS AGENT ................................................................................................ 21 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 21 1.2 Te Acquisition of a State of Character ........................................................................... 22 1.2.1 Virtue as a Non-Rational State ................................................................................ 23 1.2.2 Virtue as a Rational or Intellectual State ............................................................... 26 1.2.3 A Stalemate .................................................................................................................. 29 1.3 Becoming a Virtuous Agent, Engaging in Virtuous Activity ...................................... 30 1.3.1 Te Human Good and Virtuous Activity .................................................................. 30 1.3.2 Te Activity of the Virtuous Agent ............................................................................. 32 1.3.3 A More Neutral Starting Point ..................................................................................... 34 1.4 Virtuous Activity is Realised through Practice ............................................................... 35 1.5 Te Nature of the Process Revisited ................................................................................. 38 1.5.1 We Should Not Assume Tat Habituation Is Non-Rational ................................. 39 1.6 What Happens When We Do Just and Temperate Tings? ...................................... 47 2 PRACTICE AND PRAXIS ................................................................................................................ 48 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 48 2.2 Nicomachean Ethics II 4 .................................................................................................... 49 2.3 Te Challenge and the Form of the Solution .................................................................. 51 2.3.1 Some Desiderata ........................................................................................................... 53 2.3.2 Te ‘Possibility’ Reading ........................................................................................... 54 2.3.3 Te ‘Process’ Reading ................................................................................................. 58 2.4 Te Disanalogy ..................................................................................................................... 62 2.4.1 A Change of Subject .................................................................................................. 63 2.4.2 A Continuation of the Argument: Te Truth Conditions of the Adverbs ... 66 5 2.4.3 Te Full Solution ........................................................................................................ 67 2.5 Practice and Praxis ................................................................................................................ 68 2.5.1 Te Priority of Praxis ................................................................................................. 72 2.6 Te Explanatory Task .......................................................................................................... 74 3 CONTINUITY AND DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................... 75 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 75 3.2 A Requirement of Continuity ........................................................................................... 76 3.3 Te Continuity Worry ........................................................................................................ 77 3.4 Jimenez’ Underlying Concern: Radical Discontinuity ................................................ 81 3.4.1 Mechanical Action ..................................................................................................... 81 3.4.2 Discerning Action ...................................................................................................... 88 3.5 Virtuous Motivation ........................................................................................................... 90 3.6 Te Texts do not Mandate the ‘Virtuous Motivation’ View ....................................... 92 3.7 Leaving Room for Development and Discovery ........................................................... 98 3.7.1 Te Bump in the Carpet ........................................................................................... 99 3.7.2 Te Picture of Habituation ..................................................................................... 101 4 IMITATING VIRTUE ................................................................................................................. 104 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 104 4.2 Imitation and Moral Development ................................................................................ 105 4.2.1 Imitation and Development Before Aristotle .................................................... 108 4.2.2 Imitation and Character Models in NE IX and X ............................................. 111 4.3 Mimēsis in the Poetics .......................................................................................................... 113 4.4 Fossheim and Te Desire to Imitate ................................................................................ 117 4.4.1 Assessment of Fossheim’s Account ....................................................................... 120 4.5 Learning through Imitation .............................................................................................. 121 4.5.1 Imitation and Attention to Virtuous Action ...................................................... 122 4.6 Imitation and the Virtuous Agent’s Perspective ........................................................... 125 4.6.1 Perceiving Together .................................................................................................. 127