Snape and the philosophy of virtue

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 35854

Anyone who has been involved in, or has been interested in our discussions of 
Snape and how he came to change sides might be interested to listen to a 
discussion broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this morning on the nature of and 
motivation for virtuous behaviour.

Touches on ideas from Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas, Hume, Hobbs, Darwin, 
Nietsche, Kant, Utilitarian movement.
Quite a bit about the Aristotelian idea that one learns to be virtuous 
through habituation. It is a learning process and  the person who has fully 
internalised these ideals gains happiness whereas someone who's still in 
training, as it were, who is trying to emulate virtuous behaviour but hasn't 
fully internalised it won't yet find contentment in a virtuous lifestyle. 
(Sounds rather like someone we know, doesn't it?)
Kant: Passions and sentiments have no moral value, but the 'numinal' self 
allows us to act freely, rationally and morally. A fundamental tension 
between determinism and freedom. The 'Categorical Imperitive' : you must act 
only on principles that any rational being would act upon in the same 
situation - like the golden rule. 
'Duty for duty's sake'  is the only thing that has moral worth. Doing 
something kind simply because you *want* to carries no  distinctive moral 
value.
Contrast with Aristotle. For Aristotle, the best kind of person is the moral 
saint, who has the right sentiments and passions and enjoys doing the right 
thing, whereas for Kant, the moral hero is the person who's really tempted to 
do something nasty but manages to resist because its their duty.( Again, 
familiar, no?) It is easiest to isolate the idea of moral worth in a 
situation where the agent has a sense of conflict.

Anyone who wants to hear the whole discussion, its on line for one week only, 
at
www,bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml
On the alphabetical index, click on 'In Our Time'
(There's the end of a news broadcast at the beginning, don't think that it's 
the wrong programme)

Eloise


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