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. His theory was originally introduced in ancient Greek
times. Aristotle was a great believer in virtues and the meaning of
virtue to him meant being able to fulfil one's functions. Virtue
ethics is not so much interested in the question 'What should I do?'
but rather in the question 'what sort of person should I become?' It
has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be
human, than with the rights and wrongs of actions. Instead of
concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how
you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a
virtuous life are very happy and have sense of well-being. Happiness
is the ultimate goal for everyone in life. Aristotle's definition of
happiness is, 'happiness is the activity of the soul in accord with
perfect virtue'.
To become a better person, we must practice virtuous acts regularly.
After a while, these acts will become a habit and so the virtuous acts
part of our every day life and the person will be leading a virtuous
life. For example, if a singer practices singing everyday, they will
become better at it and used to doing it. People who practice their
virtues improve their skills and therefore becoming happier. According
to Aristotle the person who struggles to acquire virtues is in the
long run a better person and is much happier as they feel that they
deserve that happiness as they have worked very hard for it. By
continuously practicing their virtues people will soon be acting in
the right way. Aristotle says that virtues are something that we
acquire and are not just born with; people are not intrinsically good
or bad, but become good or bad according to their habits they develop
throughout their lives.
An employee of ABC Company, Luke is in charge with a project of developing new purchased land. The company is planning to build an adult entertainment retail store which confidently lay near where his brother, Owen, lives. If the plans are announced to the public, the property of the surrounding neighborhood will drop significantly. What concerned Luke is that Owen just told him about the offer to sell his house at a decent price compared to the current real estate market. However, Owen is considering if he should wait for a couple year and sell his house later at a higher price as the estate value may increase.
Randall recently finished graduate school with an M.A. in advertising and works at a major agency in account services. His job requires him to work as an assistant account executive for a client that is introducing a new sports car. His responsibility would be to drive the new sports car for six months while selling the car and hand out supplementary materials to whomever was interested in the car. Randall would not be able to tell the individuals that the car was not his and this promotion seemed deceptive to him.
There are two basic types of ethical judgments: deontological judgements that focus on duty and obligation and eudaimonist judgements that focus on human excellence and the nature of the good life. I contend that we must carefully distinguish these two types of judgement and not try to understand one as a special case of the other. Ethical theories may be usefully divided into two main kinds, deontological or eudaimonist, on the basis of whether they take one of the other of these types of judgement as primary. A second important contention, which this paper supports but does not attempt to justify fully, is that neither type of theory trumps the other, nor should we subsume them under some more encompassing ethical synthesis.
No decision procedure – moral decision making is too complicated to have a single criterion for decision
When we discuss morality we know that it is a code of values that seem to guide our choices and actions. Choices and actions play a significant role in determining the purpose and course of a person’s life. In the case of “Jim and the Indians”, Jim faces a terrible dilemma to which any solution is morbid. On one hand, Jim can choose to ignore the captain’s suggestion and let the whole group of Indians be executed. Alternatively, he may decide upon sacrificing one Indian for the sake of saving the rest. Both options involve taking of person’s life. Regarding what should Jim do in this circumstance, there are two approaches according for Jim’s dilemma that should be examined. By looking into the Deontological moral theory and the moral theory of Consequentialism we can see what determines an action that is morally required.
After reading about four different systems of ethics I have come to the following conclusion that virtue ethics is the most convincing and therefore best system of ethics to use is virtue ethics. In my opinion virtue ethics is the most convincing and promising system of ethics that we have covered thus far. There are several reasons why I think that this system of ethics is the most promising. Much like the material I have read in our textbook has convinced me to believe this I hope to use that same material to convince you of the same thing.
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.
What is right and wrong? This question that has been asked throughout history all over the world that perplexes society even today. Many philosophers have attempted to answer this question, but it is hard to make out what the right answer would be or even if it can be answered. Who would be able to tell? That’s why we as individuals must make up our own minds on what is right or wrong. We can only hope to find our own moral path. Though it is up to us we can take a look at philosophers of the past to be a guiding hand at times.
Of the three main ethical systems discussed in class that I chose was, ethics of virtue. Ethics of virtue is an ethical theory that emphasizes an individual’s character (morals/virtues), rather than following a set of rules. If people focused on being good people then maybe the right actions will follow. Virtue is a skill that cannot be taught, it’s a way of living that can only really be learned through experience. Aristotle stated that, “a virtuous person can be seen as someone who has ideal character traits”. It requires a person to seek the ultimate good according to their moral virtues. I use this ethical system all the time because of how I was raised and it defines the type of person I am. The outcome and motive is
In Yolanda Estes’ essay “Moral Reflections on Prostitution” she argues that “prostitution violates the Kantian ‘principle of humanity’ because it reflects a disrespectful attitude, which is expressed in the nonchalant use of the human body as a mere means to achieve some goal” (p.1). I merit Estes for arguing her belief logically using the support of five clearly outlined claims.
One of my recent classes was on “Ethics and Social Policy in Human Services”. The second half of this course was focused on ethical decision-making in human services, using case studies to identify the ethical principles and implications revealed in each. In one specific case study presented for discussion, Ann is a licensed social worker at a non-profit human service agency whose primary duties include counselling individuals and small groups. Ann has a client, Jasmine, who attends therapeutic group sessions twice weekly with Ann because her two year old daughter had been placed in foster care due to maltreatment and “failure to thrive”. These sessions are court ordered by the local child protective service agency in order to regain custody of children. Jasmine confided to her case worker (not Ann) that she is positive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV positive), and someone informed Mary, the executive director of the agency. Mary becomes angry and asks Ann to speak privately with Jasmine to persuade her to tell the other clients in her therapy group that she is HIV positive. Jasmine is also a Type II diabetic, and uses a glucometer in the bathroom at the agency during breaks. Mary feels Jasmine is putting the staff and clients at risk by pricking her finger to test her glucose level. Mary, who is not a trained counselor or social worker, also thinks it would be therapeutic for Jasmine and the other clients if Jasmine shared her HIV status (Herlihy & Corey, 2006).
Harm reduction has become an important concept in substance use treatment and policy in the last few decades, as the United States has increasingly been adopting these policies in a number of different areas (Van Wormer & Davis, 2013). As these policies continue to grow in prevalence, it is important that such practices can be justified through research evidence and ethical principles. While there is debate in the field as to whether or not harm reduction is truly neutral of value judgments (Miller, 2005), chemical addiction professionals must be involved in the ongoing discussion of harm reduction and its relationship to ethics. As this paper will illustrate, there is a large amount of disagreement concerning how direct service professionals, researchers, and policy-makers should understand the values of harm reduction, there are differences in opinion about the role of ethics in harm reduction, there are ethical concerns related to each concept and its implementation, and more needs to be done to unify the voices involved in the discussion of ethics in harm reduction.
Virtue of Ethics. Virtue of ethics is based on principles and the virtues of individuals. This approach is based or featured on the individual rather than the actions a person takes. It focuses on the “virtue and moral character of the individual or person performing the action” (Rachel’s & Rachel’s, 2015, p. 159). “Duties” and “rules” are not the focus to this approach as like with the deontological approach (Rachel’s & Rachel’s, 2015, p. 159-160). It also does not focus on the consequences of action like the consequentialist approach does when it comes to ethics. It does however, still consider and focus on whether the action is right or wrong. The virtue of ethics is more of a “guide of characteristics and behaviors” of how an individual
In this paper, I argue about the applicability of virtue ethics which is one of three major branches of normative ethics. The subject of virtue ethics is normally defined as one that puts emphasis on virtues which are also known as moral character. The branch is in contrast to the majority of the approaches which places a lot of emphasizes on responsibilities and rules. The practice is also known as deontology or the practice which emphasizes on the results of actions. It is also known as consequentialism (Swanton,11).The way virtue ethics is applied in modern philosophy should be clearly evaluated.
When faced with the issue of alleviating poverty or saving nature, many would agree with the following statement: as a society we ought to use available resources and funds to help the poor. In his article “Feeding people versus Saving Nature” Rolston opposes this position and asserts his view that there are times when we ought to choose to save nature instead of feeding the poor. I will argue in favor of Rolston’s argument and against those such as Singer, who strongly opposes the notion that preserving nature and allowing people to unnecessarily die is morally wrong. In reality there are many ways in which we can address the issue of global poverty without resorting to destroying natural ecosystems that we are dependent on.