Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Ethics Philosophies - Essay Example

Aristotle and Confucius were two Greek philosophers. They separately developed philosophies on virtue ethics, which many people think have parallels as much they are different. One of the similarities between the views of the two philosophers on virtue ethics is functional holism and perfectionism. The sense here is that people should strive to be the best thing that they can be; that people should strive to be holistic and on their best behavior at all times. Aristotle’s phronesis has parallels with Confucius’ yi. This is where the two philosophers are in agreement on the idea that virtue is a type of knowledge, self-knowledge in this case, which results from self-examination.  Once a person has self-knowledge, they are able to have a good life.
Another similarity stems from two views of the two philosophies that converge at a conclusion. Aristotle’s relative means don’t lead to any ethical subjectivism, just as Confucius maintains a normative and objective morality.
One would generally not buy bits of Aristotle’s. For example, I would personally not agree with the idea that one can be a good citizen without first being a good person. in most cases, at least known to me, a bad person can only extend the trait of being bad to how they relate with others.