According to Morrison and Furlong, normative ethics discovers what is right and wrong and guides decision making for all situations in many areas including health care. A normative ethical theory that this research will discuss is virtue ethics in the American health care system. The purpose of this research is to develop potential for excellence and to find the highest good for humans by doing what is right short-term, long-term, and to compete globally (Morrison & Furlong, 2013). Giving certain situations each theory can provide tools to assist in decision-making but virtue ethics concentrates on excellence and perfection. Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics is a theory about finding our highest good and doing so will develop a vigorous character within each person. Character is important because it shows that a person has certain beliefs and desires in doing the right thing and when the right thing is accomplished, happiness follows (Hartman, 2006). Virtue ethics derives from Aristotle and he concludes that by doing virtuous acts all through life happiness and respectable character will develop (Morrison & Furlong, 2013). Finding the highest good within oneself brings happiness and great character to that individual. Goals for Virtue Ethics In the American health care system, there are goals set for each individual and for the organization as a whole to be successful. The types of goals set can differ from short and long-term goals. Short-term goals is something that can be achieved in less than a year and long-term goals is anywhere from two to five years or something that will make a career last a long time (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Having goals set and using the virtue ethics theory can help with the decision-making proce... ... middle of paper ... ... end up doing the United States harm. Once that happens, America would be ran the way that a certain country runs their people. There will not be freedom and the United States would be a communistic economy. The government would control everything like whom people work for, where people live, and go to school. In this case, America would be ran by an autocratic leader and our country would have no power anymore (Warner). Although, America does the right thing different countries might not follow the virtue ethics theory. Conclusion In conclusion, virtue ethics can make a huge difference on short-term goals, long-term goals, advantages and disadvantages on the American health care system and the ability to compete globally. Finding the highest good and developing a good character will progress to excellence and good habits to have a successful career and life.
Virtue ethics is an approach that “deemphasizes rules, consequences and particular acts and places the focus on the kind of person who is acting” (Garrett, 2005). A person’s character is the totality of his character traits. Our character traits can be goo...
Healthcare ethics is defined as a system of moral principles that guide healthcare workers in making choices regarding medical care. At its core lies our attitudes regarding our personal rights and obligations we have to others. When an unprecedented situation comes into play, we rely on medical ethics to help determine an outcome that would be the best case scenario for all involved. In order to appropriately review this case study, we must first identify the key stakeholders, the ethical principles, policy implications at the federal, state, and local levels, financial implications, and a viable resolution for the situation.
Ethics are the moral beliefs that help direct a person’s behavior These values are molded by social norms, culture, and often times religious beliefs. With that, ethical decision making is the development of measuring the moral associations of a course of action(Squazzo,2011). Every decision has an ethical or moral component due to the fact that they each have effects on others. Organizations often instill ethics agendas to help ease better decision making of employees. According to Jack Gilbert there are five specialties for ethical culture that healthcare organizations can learn from, they are: mindfulness, voice, respect, tenacity, and legacy(Squazzo,2011). Gilbert states mindfulness as being mindful of unethical thing that could
This paper will focus on two BNUR leaner outcomes (University of Calgary, 2013) relevant to my learned understanding of nurses as ethical decision makers. I will outline the ways that I have seen ethics used and not used in practice, what I learned about ethics and its use in my theory courses and throughout my practicums, and I will reflect on how this understanding will translate into my professional practice moving forward.
On Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. http://www.oxfordscholarship.com. ———. "
Is virtue all we need? Virtue epistemology is the theory that all of the things we believe are done so through an ethical process. They play an important role, in that our own personal experiences and intellectual facets are what drive this process. The fundamental idea of virtue epistemology is that knowledge is a form of a more general phenomenon, namely success through abilities. Which is turn means: knowledge is a cognitive achievement through cognitive abilities (perception, memory, experience, etc.). Knowledge doesn’t need to be anything beyond a justified true belief.
For virtue ethics, they tie in questions that concern an entire person’s life, rather than the actions they partake in at a current point in time. Virtue ethics touches on how a person should live and what type of person should we strive to be in life. With virtue ethics, a person should strive to be someone with a good character. According to this theory, we must be virtuous in character. Character is key for an individual to live the right way.
Hursthouse, R. (2003, July 18). Virtue Ethics. Stanford University. Retrieved March 6, 2014, from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/ethics-virtue
Jecker, N. (1990). Integrating medical ethics with normative theory: Patient advocacy and social responsibility. 11(2), 125-139.
Now “Imagine a famine. [You and your sister are starving and you have only one loaf of bread between the two of you. Your sister is too weak to move so you get to decide who gets to eat. What will you do?]” (Margaret atwood, Bread, 1983, p. 390). If the virtue approach is used in this situation all of the bread will be given to the sister and therefore no guilt will be accumulated. This can be considered a good ethical code for the situation because even if both were to die there would be no regrets or dissatisfaction which is the purpose of ethics in the first place. The virtue approach
The Virtue Approach: assumes that there are certain ideals toward which we should strive, which provide for the full development of our humanity.
Garrett, T. M., Baillie, H. W., & Garrett, R. M. (2010). Health care ethics: Principles and problems (5thed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Although virtue ethics is deeply divided in interpreting the virtue of different characteristics and the morality of their manifestations in society, it consists of six essential rules that can be found in all forms of virtue ethics. According to one of those rules, an action is morally correct if a person with a virtuous character would perform the same action in the same circumstances (Oakly & Cocking, 2004), and that rule could explain Sally's case as morally correct action. However, several people could argue that virtue ethics should be practiced without harming others. While Sally is assisting a man in need, she is also working against the company policy. It has been argued that business environments can provide a suitable environment to practice virtues, but the opposition states that it is closer to deontological requirements for following rules that are not necessarily based on personal characters and virtues (Moore, 2002).
This theory involves evaluating the individual making the decision rather than the actions or consequences themselves. Aristotle defined “virtue as a character trait that manifests itself in habitual actions.” (Boatright, 2012) This means that you are not considered virtuous because you did the right thing one time, you must be consistent. Virtue character traits include: compassion, courage, courtesy, etc. these traits not only allow for ethical decision making but they also provide happiness to the individual possessing the traits. When a person has virtue as a part of their character their actions will be moral and ethical without having to choose between what they want to do and what they should do – the decision would be the same. Their actions and feelings would coincide with the moral rationale of the virtue theory. Advantages of the virtue theory are instilling good moral character traits into individuals allowing for more ethical decision making based on personal character. Also, the virtue theory promotes happiness through good moral character which encourages people to make ethical business decisions but also ethical personal decisions – leading to a more fulfilling life. A disadvantage is virtue ethics is trying to determine a list of virtues that people should possess, each trait needs to be carefully
Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics is a theory used to make moral decisions. It does not rely on religion, society or culture; it only depends on the individuals themselves. The main philosopher of Virtue Ethics is Aristotle. The. His theory was originally introduced in ancient Greek.