Virtue ethics – symposium | PHI208 | Ashford University

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 5 of the How Should One Live? An Introduction to Ethics and Moral Reasoning. You should also read or watch the resource your instructor has provided for this discussion, which you can find in the instructor’s discussion prompt post.

In the ancient Greece of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, a “symposium” was a banquet held after a meal, an “after-party” of sorts that usually included drinking, dancing, recitals, and engaging conversations on the topics of the day. For our purposes in this course, the Symposium discussions will not involve dancing, recitals, or a banquet, but they will provide food for thought on current ethical issues and direct application of the ethical theory discussed in each of these weeks.

For this Symposium discussion, your instructor will choose a topic of current ethical interest and a resource associated with it for you to read or watch. Your task is to consider how virtue ethics applies to the controversy, dilemma, event, or scenario selected by your instructor. It is a chance for you to discuss together the ethical issues and questions that it raises, your own response to those, and whether that response aligns with a virtue ethics approach. The aim is to identify, evaluate, and discuss the moral reasoning involved in addressing the chosen issue.

• The total word count for all your posts should be at least 600 words, excluding references.
• In-text citations and references should follow APA guidelines. See the APA StyleLinks to an external site. resource in the Writing Center.

Discussion Topic: Virtue in Performance Enhancing Drugs

This week, we will consider how virtue ethics applies to performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports. 

Please watch this videoLinks to an external site. that outlines the kinds and types of Performance Enhancing Drugs and some ethical issues.

According to Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean, Virtue requires that we seek the mean between excess and deficit. Additionally, his conception of eudaimonia, or the good life, suggests that the perfection of excellences is a central component of living. Our physical abilities, character traits, and above all, our intellect were to all be perfected. 

• With Aristotle’s virtue theory in mind, do you think he would say that consuming performance-enhancing drugs (i.e., steroids) in professional sports is morally permissible?  Why or why not? 
• Are there some performance-enhancing drugs or therapies that are more moral than others? 

Your posts should remain focused on ethical considerations. At some point in your contribution, you must address how a virtue ethicist would approach this issue by explaining and evaluating that approach. If you have a position, you should strive to provide reasons in defense of that position. 

When responding to peers, you should strive first to understand the reasons they are offering before challenging or critiquing those reasons. One good way of summarizing their argument before offering a critique or evaluation.