Ethical Theory

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Annekirby Smith Ethical Theory David Wright February 12th, 2013 Review of “Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of Our Character” by Rachana Kamtekatar In Rachana Kamtekar’s article, “Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of Our Character”, she starts by outlining the view she intends to argue against, situationalism. She describes situationlism as the view that; the best predictor of human action is the particular situation he or she is in, not his or her character. She writes that some situationalists take it as far as to say there is no such thing as character, only reactions to situations. Kamtekar then cites four of the experiments that situationalists point to as evidence that situations, not “character” are the best predictor of human actions. The experiments include, Stanley Milgram’s Obedience to Authority, the Good Samaritan, Helping for a Dime and Cheating, Stealing, Lying. Kamtekar then lays out her argument that the experiments were testing for something much different than the character traits Aristotle spoke of. Because the experiments did not properl...

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