Eudaimonist Virtue Ethics and Individual Rights:Investigating the View of Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J.Den Uyl

Eudaimonist virtue ethics is one type of virtue ethics. Rasmussen and Den Uyl argue that, by explaining human flourishing characteristics and emphasizing the importance of self-directness, the approach of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics can be viewed as a foundation for individual rights and, consequently, as the main basis for a liberal neutral minimal state. Individual rights are regarded as metanormative principles because they are associated with the establishment and justification of a political legal ground that has been ensured and provided the possibility of pursuing human flourishing. This account has been criticized for its consequentialist approach and not being sufficiently based on the Aristotelian view, despite claiming to have a neo-Aristotelian approach to the virtue ethics of rights. In addition to investigating the critical approaches, this paper asserts that the right to liberty is an essential condition for fulfilling human flourishing and virtuous living in Rasmussen and Den Uyl's neo-Aristotelian view, and self-directness has been introduced as an intermediate element between virtue ethics and individual rights in terms of this eudaimonist approach.