Virtue Ethics emphasizes the development of character as its central theme rather than trying to define 'goodness' or 'rightness'. It is a eudaimonistic theory as it holds 'happiness' to be our highest goal. According to Aristotle, we attain happiness by cultivating both intellectual and moral excellence. We become virtuous by habit: we deliberately and consistently choose the mean between excess and deficiency until it becomes second-nature.

(Also known as Areteic Ethics)