Seneca’s view on the contemporary debate between duty ethics and virtue ethics

Abstract

There are currently a broad debate aimed at seeking alternatives to oppose the influence of Kantian and utilitarian ethics currents. In the mid-60s we see the emergence of new options - the Ethics of Virtue and Care. These new ethics, especially The Virtue Ethics, propose to rescue the Greek doctrine of eudaimonia, widespread in Aristotle ́s words, as well as the meaningful and significant human bonds that are lost amid the impartiality of the Ethics of Duty. These scholars try to incorporate ethics with a more human armor, which doesn’t restrict itself only to not intend to discussions only between right and wrong, but also aims the enhancement of the agent who performs the action, his happiness and character. What was examined and is brought out in the following pages is Seneca’s influence in the process of switching mainly from Aristotelian ethics to deontic ones, as well as the way his words bring
heat to the debate, when the Virtue Ethics arises. From the notions of "perfect action" and "appropriate action", present in his work, we can follow Seneca’s oscillation between two moralities, leaning over sometimes to one, sometimes to another.