Aristotle's Virtue Ethics, Virtue Ethics As A Morally Good

A virtue is a trait believed to be morally good, and a vice is a trait believed to be morally wrong. Eventually, a person will make a decision and take action based on their virtues and vices. Therefore, it is virtues that help engineers reach their purpose and evaluate ethical behavior. This paper will attempt to generate a list of virtues that an engineer must possess in order to be regarded as virtuous. Before doing this, Aristotle’s virtue ethics, virtues of thought, and virtues of character will be explained.

Utilitarianism and duty ethics aim to answer whether an action is morally right or wrong based on the consequences of the action and the action’s adherence to rules or duties, respectively. On the other hand, Aristotle’s virtue ethics focuses on one’s character and the virtues that one’s character embodies rather than the morality of their actions. The emphasis of virtue ethics is “on becoming a morally good person as opposed to acting in a moral manner” (Kremer). Whereas morally right actions are based on ideal character traits or virtues, morally wrong actions arise from bad character traits or vices. Aristotle used three Greek concepts to describe a virtuous person. Telos means function, purpose, end, or goal, and it is

One does not have to possess all of those virtues to determine if an action is moral or immoral. Virtue ethicists believe that an “action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances” (Virtue ethics). According to Aristotle’s understanding of telos, the telos or purpose of an engineer has to be universal to all members of this group. However, a problem with virtue ethics is that every person has a different idea of what a virtuous engineer