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Virtue doesn't extend down the human hierarchy even if you enforce it with violence. On the coast of Senegal, fishing is the only way to survive. For those that don't fish, there are few jobs that can be had, such as unloading the fish, or sorting them for transportation. The rest join in the economy by taking fish off the boats, or retrieving the fish that have fallen in the water, or stealing them off the boats when they come back to shore. Even if the fisherman push them off the boats, and take back their fish, they will still come back everyday, because there is no other way available to survive. Ethics aren't afforded to a society where people still have to make life or death decisions on a daily basis. By extension, developed societies are not afforded virtue ethics, when important indices such as well-being, happiness, and the full range of emotional satisfactions, indicative of an intelligent species, are not met. These are maintained by a network of both physical resources, and societal connections. Maslow, again, comes to mind, detailing how the physical and emotional needs of a person can work to achieve a better human. However, in some modern societies the practical pyramid of needs gets skewed, to only a few people. Will it ever be perfect? I don't think that is ever achievable, but if the goals remain myopic, you may never be able to improve, unless there are interalgic and dedicated people doing so. Virtue doesn't extend up the human hierarchy even if you enforce it with ethics. |