-
3. HIV/AIDS and the Human Virtues
- Baylor University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Chapter 3 HIV/AIDS and Human Virtues 71 Theoretical Considerations In this chapter, I explore virtues of hope, fidelity, care, justice, and prudence in light of HIV/AIDS because the pandemic threatens eudaimonia.1 Virtue theory has enjoyed a revival in ethical discourse during the last two decades, since Alasdair MacIntyre, a leading proponent of virtue theory, decried the loss of virtue in the modern world.2 In Whose Justice? Which Rationality? MacIntyre, discussed four moral traditions: the Aristotelian tradition; the Thomistic synthesis of Augustinian and Aristotelian traditions; the seventeenth - and eighteenth-century Scottish tradition; and liberalism. As in After Virtue, MacIntyre rejected the view that the liberal society could provide a coherent account of moral virtues and facilitate the practice of justice in the post-Enlightenment era.3 MacIntyre preferred the notions of justice reflected in the Thomistic synthesis of the Augustinian and Aristotelian traditions.4 In the African context, some ethicists, especially in South Africa, have called for the appropriation of ubuntu values that promote togetherness in the pursuit of the common good. The employment of ubuntu as an ethical priority has special prominence in South Africa, where it has been part of the discussion on life after apartheid.5 Feminist scholars, since the publication of Carol Gilligan’s book In a Different Voice, have contributed significantly to the discussion of virtues, especially on crucial questions like care and justice.6 Kathryn Tanner argues that feminist scholars have shifted their focus from the “dualism of moral orientation in public and private spheres . . . by a process of mutual critique, so that, for example, the family becomes a place of justice and public life an arena dedicated to nurture.”7 Feminist scholars have addressed issues related to women’s experience and reformulated ethics, arguing that these issues cannot be defined in abstraction from contemporary experience.8 In theology, some scholars have argued that the Christian tradition and its narratives provide a guide to the community.9 Others have taken a broad approach, using the Christian tradition and its texts in dialogue with critical perspectives in other disciplines to discuss virtues and moral issues in society.10 A theological dialogue on virtues in Africa must be pluralistic because HIV/AIDS has raised moral issues that involve religious, scientific, medical, cultural, economic , and political perspectives. I consider human virtues as character traits and dispositions necessary for the good and for humans well-being and flourishing. These traits and dispositions remain valid for every community.11 I do not propose a new set of rules (deontology) or call for a return to some natural ideal (natural law), or argue that one way of doing things would benefit the greatest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (utilitarianism). Rather, I call attention to selected virtues that could energize dialogue and praxis in personal and public life. Virtues are public values which a community should promote in an open dialogue to enable its inhabitants to acquire those dispositions that would help them achieve the good. I take a minimal and contextual normative approach because in the context of HIV/AIDS some people, especially African women and children, do negotiate their marginal existence in ways that might appear to an onlooker as if they lack virtue or acquiesce to forces that dominate them. Their actions, which seem to violate norms of virtuous action, might also be taken to affirm life and therefore be praiseworthy.12 Contextual nuances differ, but in the main, people around the world share the virtues of a good life, even though the technical language and descriptions which scholars employ emerge in different contexts. I do not share the view that moral agents must always act as autonomous and reasonable individuals. In a context of HIV/AIDS, where the politics of neglect, discrimination, marginalization, and stigmatization have created risk situations for many, rationality is often compromised. For example, a woman, let’s call her A, whose husband takes a second wife, widow B, without knowing that B’s husband died of HIV complications, is in a difficult position. In many cultures, A cannot prevent the marriage, and cannot refuse to have conjugal relations with her husband because she does not have the autonomy to ask questions about the health of B, the new wife. Therefore A is not in a posi72 Facing a Pandemic [18.227.24.209] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 13:51 GMT) HIV/AIDS and Human Virtues 73 tion to make rational decisions about her sexuality in what has...