Analyzing Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics is a very different approach to the others and central to Aristotle's work. It does not primarily concentrate on the right action as such; the right action according to virtue ethicists is the one that the virtuous agent would do. Virtue ethics takes the central feature of morality to be the virtuous character, and the account of what the virtues are as the basis of the theory.

The Virtue Theory, also know as Virtue Ethics, refers to the character of each person. This theory states that every person should try for excellence. The characteristics of each individual are made up from their environment that they are a part of. The theory would further suggest

The first theory I will compare virtue ethics against is ethical egoism. The two theories share a commonality apart from being normative in nature. They both seek what is best for the doer. Aristotle claimed that happiness is ultimately attained by striving for the “function of man” which is the excellence found within virtue. This is comparable to ethical egoism because of it’s principle of exclusively acting in one’s own best interest. While virtue ethics states that a virtuous character is the goal, ethical egoism is not specific to what is in a person’s best interest. If attaining a virtuous character is

Virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches in ethics. This approach of ethics emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to other approaches which emphasizes duties or rules. Virtue ethics has three central concepts; virtue, practical wisdom, and eudemonia, however, these are often misunderstood. The three approaches of ethics are virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics, and deontology ethics. Each approach provides a different way to understanding ethics.

Alasdair MacIntyre encourages a return to the basis of Aristotle’s understanding of virtue and encourages the development of virtues that are relevant to contemporary times. He believed when compared to other ethical theories Virtue Ethics are more realistic and applicable to peoples everyday situations. I would agree with MacIntyre here that a virtue-approach is more suitable in our society. Naturalistic theories of ethics are time consuming and overly complexed and therefore difficult to apply, Virtue Ethics however is not. For

Ethics and virtue have been a very contentious issue facing society for centuries. Many argue over the merits of various theories, each with its own philosophies and assumptions. It is this argument that has given rise to many popular and followed theories of ethics and virtues. The theories discussed primarily in this document include the virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological theory. Each is very distinct to the others in regards to its principles and assumptions regarding human behavior. Each however, has merit in regards to question of ethics and virtue, and how it should subsequently be valued.

Virtue Ethics is neither deontological nor teleological, since it is concerned with neither duty nor consequences, but rather the state of the person acting. Aristotle believed that once you are good, good actions will necessarily follow, and this belief is at the centre of Virtue Ethics. Rather than defining good actions, Virtue Ethics looks at good people and the qualities that make them good. The non-normative theory, although very effective in determining the morality of individuals, is particularly flawed when applied to whole societies. This weakness is largely due to its imprecision and abstraction; however, before these weaknesses can be considered, it is necessary to give an account of the theory itself.

Virtue theory centers around the significance of the person, and the progress of that person’s disposition, as opposed to their activities. Virtues demonstrate what kind of characteristics we have, and moral decision making skills can influence our developing characteristics, either positively or negatively. Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics and Alistair MacIntyre in After Virtue involve virtue theory to moral decision making. Both philosophers have different standpoints on the enforcing virtue ethics on humans because they lived in different time periods; however, both mentioned the notions of virtue theory.

Unlike the other approaches, which will be detailed in the following sections, Virtue Ethics also places an emphasis on emotions and morality (BilboroughRS, 2011). Individuals are not expected to be totally impartial as they ponder their decisions. Once someone has fully developed virtues, they will be naturally predisposed to act in ways that are consistent with moral principles – “the virtuous person is the ethical person” (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, and Meyer,

In week four of ethics we went over chapters 8, 9 and 10. Chapter 8 was over Virtue Ethics, chapter 9 was about feminists thought and the ethics of care, and chapter 10 was about euthanasia. These three topics were very interesting to me, but one in particular topic that was interesting for me was the chapter on virtue ethics. This chapter stood out the most for me because it is so important to have good character no matter what you are personally going through or what has happened to you in your life it is always important to give others respect and treat them how you would like to be treated. Virtues are good character traits, for example courage, loyalty, self sacrifice, and patriotism. They are the traits that make a person good. According

And virtue is an approach to ethics that contributes to the personal character as a key factor of ethical thinking rather than the rules of the act itself or its consequences (Mastin, Luke). Justice, harmony, and virtue are three unrelated words that compacted together in a way that had a huge impact in shaping the East Asian political life.

Virtue ethics is a theory that usually has a role of character and virtue in the world of moral philosophy rather than either doing one’s duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences. In some article they said that some people that give professional advice about moral are called virtue ethicist. When talking about virtue ethics theories, you need to understand that it came from Aristotle who declared that, “a virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits.” He also said that these traits are originated from natural internal tendencies, but need to be cherished; however, once established, they will become stable.

Virtue ethics is a theory that focuses on character development and what virtues one should obtain to be who they are supposed to be, as oppose to actions. An example of virtue ethics would be someone who is patient, kind, loving, generous, temperance, courage and flourishing as oppose to a person who lies, cheats, and

There are many strengths and weaknesses to virtue ethics that can be discussed, but they both have a main strength and weakness that could be talked about. One primary strength of virtue ethics is character traits this is how we use are virtues to help other people and make them better. People should have respect, love, and compassion for one another these are what a person should have in them innately to help others out because it’s the way you are instead of doing just because you should. The main weakness of virtue ethics that people argue is that it does not have focus of what is supposed to be morally right and wrong in the first place even though we know that something like murder is not moral virtue ethics doesn’t really ask this question.

An advantage of virtue ethics is that it brings in all the qualities of being human such as reason, responsibility and emotion to influence a person’s ethical consideration. This can be applied in situations where a person asks what sort of person he or she should be. However, our text book clarifies that “determining what the specific virtues are, and what the appropriate balance among those virtues should be, can be difficult” (Mosser, 2011).