Macintyre's Approach To Virtue Ethics

Introduction. Virtue ethics is the most important type of ethics philosophy because it allows us to be individuals who act according to who we are, rather than how society tells us to act. At the heart of human nature are the questions, “What is my purpose” and “Why am I here”. According to BBC (2014), philosopher MacIntyre asks of the virtue ethicist “Who am I”. Virtue Ethics is based on the values of the person rather than the action. And, this allows us to examine such questions. Other theories of philosophy, such as consequentialism, take away our ability to separate ourselves from one another by focusing on the results in a given situation, essentially turning us into computers rather than beings. Virtue ethics does not, however,

They go on to explain that while other forms of ethics deal with moral principles, “What should I do?”, virtue ethics is an approach that asks the question “What kind of person should I be?” (para. 3). The “virtues” are defined as traits like honesty, integrity, respectability, understanding, fairness, goodness, and anything else that shows who we really are and how we want society to see us. As BBC (2014) puts it, the virtues are person-based rather than based on our actions. This encompasses our natural tendency as humans to see a persons’ “character” in their actions rather than the “right or “wrong” of the action itself (para.

Consequentialism ethics philosophy tells us to look at the “overall consequences” of our actions (Haines, n.d., para. 1). While this is something that all of us inherently do, it does not encompass everything that goes into a decision that we are faced with. There are many aspects to the decision making process, and we all go about it in a different way. Our understanding of “right or wrong” is influenced by our parents, schools, community, laws, religious beliefs and anything else we may be exposed to in the past. What we value also plays a role in our decision making, such as family, money, power, and freedom. And, the environment itself can play an important role, whether it’s at work, home, school, in a war, or even culture different than our