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Morality and ethical decisions
Principle of virtue ethics
Principle of virtue ethics
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The first section was an introduction to the concept of ethics and morals. Morals and ethics were defined and the difference between them was established. Consequentialism is moral choose based on the outcome; working very similarly to cost-benefit analyzes. It uses common sense to come to conclusions and everyone including the user is equally considered in the conclusion. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism that uses happiness as the basis of determining if a choice is good or not. It is important to factor in both the quality and quantity of happiness. Utilitarianism fails when consequences are unpredictable. Also it does not take into account if an action is good or bad, like stealing or murder. Deontology or Kantianism takes Aristotle believed that to be a good person you had to have intellectual and moral virtues and that good people learned goodness from the people they interacted with. Also Aristotle believed that all beings has an inherent goal that they try to reach; for humans it is complete development of talents and morals. One problem with virtue ethics is that there is no way to morally make decisions in complex situation; the best way to handle a difficult decision is to ask one’s self what one’s idol would If you push the guy, three people will be happy and alive and they will benefit from your decision, but two people who will not benefit, one will be died and the other, you, will just not benefit. Since three happy, alive people out weighs two unhappy people. So pushing the guys is morally right in this case. For deontology, we first need a general principle based on the action that you have to do; “pushing someone is ok” or maybe “killing people is ok.” But the second statement is a consideration of the consequence so that does not follow the rule. Next we have to universalize the statement; do I want someone to push me? The answer is probably no, leading to a failed test, which means that you are morally obligated to just stand there and let things happen. Last is virtue ethics, which is the trickiest to simulate because decisions are based on your role model as the example for the way you choose. If Jesus was our role model then that means we would probably let it happen because one of the Ten Commandments is about not killing others so you may just stand there. Or maybe if Spock from Star Trek was your role model you would push the guy because “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the
Consequentialism is a term used by the philosophers to simplify what is right and what is wrong. Consequentialist ethical theory suggests that right and wrong are the consequences of our actions. It is only the consequences that determine whether our actions are right or wrong. Standard consequentialism is a form of consequentialism that is discussed the most. It states that “the morally right action for an agent to perform is the one that has the best consequences or that results in the most good.” It means that an action is morally correct if it has little to no negative consequences, or the one that has the most positive results.
As Stephen J. Freeman explains, consequentialism is the belief that "actions and/or rules are right as long as they produce the most favorable consequences for those affected by the actions or rules" (Freeman 63). Consequentialists view the morality of a consequence in two aspects. One aspect is what is called ethical egoism. Ethical egoism is "the idea that morality is defined as acting in one's own interest and in such a way as to maximize the consequences of good over bad" (Freeman 49). In contrast to ethical egoism is utilitarianism. Utilitarianists view morality as when an action promotes the greatest balance of good over bad for all people. "Utilitarianism is a teleological, goal-directed theory emphasizing happiness as the end result of human action" (Freeman 49).
Aristotle begins his ethical account by saying that “every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and every choice, is thought to aim for some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (line 1094a1). Though some things might produce higher good than others, Aristotle looks for the highest good, which he says we must “desire for its own sake” and our actions are not decided on some other goal beyond this good itself (line 1094a20-25).[1] This highest good is then realized to be happiness (line 1095a16-20).
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
Consequentialism is an ethical perspective that primarily focuses upon the consequences resulting from an action and aims to eliminate the negative consequences. Within this framework there are three sub-categories: Egoism, Altruism and Utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism is one of the best known and most influential moral theories. Like other forms of consequentialism, its main idea is that whether actions are morally right or wrong depends on their effects. More specially, the only effects of actions that are relevant are the good and bad results that they produce.
The Alternative View To Virtue Ethics Virtue theory is the view that the foundation of morality is the development of good character traits, or virtues. A person is good, then, if he has virtues and lacks vices. Some virtue theorists mention as many as 100 virtuous character traits, which contribute to making someone a good person. Virtue theory places special emphasis on moral education since virtuous character traits are developed in one's youth; adults, therefore, are responsible for instilling virtues in the young. The failure to properly develop virtuous character traits will result in the agent acquiring vices or bad character traits instead.
Consequentialism is an extremely influential ethical system that most people don’t know they are using. Consequentialism can be very difficult to understand if explained in complex fashion, but it's actually very simple. This ethical system mainly consists of people thinking about the consequences before performing an action; furthermore one example of this could be thinking what the consequences could be if you didn't study for a test. The possibility of getting a bad grade would force many people to study. This idea of consequentialism has been around the planet for many years. Consequentialism is very similar to utilitarianism and is believed to be just recently called two different philosophies. The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
On the other hand, the argument for pushing comes from the minimize-harm principle which says that faced with two courses of action, you should choose that action which minimizes the amount of harm that results. Since pushing the person next to you onto the tracks will kill them but save the three workers down the line, it is the action which will minimize the harm that results. So you should push the person next to you.
One of the initial thoughts I have about virtue ethics is that it is a way of thinking that has more practical application in the "real world". In a way, virtue ethics integrates intuition, wisdom, and intelligence rather than excluding them from the decision-making process. It further incorporates the person's past experiences and the way they think about themselves. Additionally, the good and the bad potentials for social prospects are taken into consideration.
Virtue Ethics relies on a person’s character and their own personal beliefs on how to determine what is right and wrong. A virtue ethicist follows the theory that you should “act as a virtuous person would act give then situation” (Athanassoulis, “Virtue Ethics”). Virtue ethics does not have a set of guidelines for a person to follow, nor does it specify how a “virtuous person would act”. Due to the broadness of this concept and the lack of guidelines presented, the theory faces criticism. There are three main objections that Virtue Ethics faces: self-centeredness, action-guiding, and moral luck. The primary focus of this analysis will be on the objections focused on self-centeredness and moral luck.
C) Ethics can be defined best as “how we should live our own lives and treat others”. Philosophers ask questions regarding ethics frequently; an example of a question on ethics would be “are our values relative, or are there absolute values for everyone to follow?”.
There are many criticisms towards virtue ethics – the most notable are self-centeredness, action-guiding and moral luck. To get a deeper understanding of these criticisms, I will explore two of these criticisms: self-centeredness and moral luck and then discuss a virtue ethicist’s reply to the objection of moral luck.
As I started to read the section this week on Virtue Ethics and reading about who modern virtue ethicists trace their theoretical roots too. I learned that there are also points that Aristotle made that I agree with. Stated in our text was “[Aristotle] says the moral life consist not in following rules that stipulate right actions, but in striving to be a particular kind of person- a virtuous person whose actions stem naturally from virtuous character” (136). I agree with this statement so much, but I also disagree with it a little. I think that for some people being good and doing the right thing might not be all so natural to them or they have gotten to a point in their life where they are unable to tell right from wrong. I think people get to this point by the environment they are around or even raised in. If you are told your whole life that a certain way to act or do something is right then that is what you do and how you act, so your action or the virtues that Aristotle called are moral virtues. Therefore, the virtues, like fairness, honesty, and loyalty, that Aristotle believed was embedded in the character traits of all of us could be
Throughout the centuries, humanity has devised theories concerning ethics. Namely, these theories evaluate how one perceives what is morally correct and incorrect. Furthermore, upon seeing the downfalls of relativism, I have concluded that morality is objective. Moreover, although Virtue Ethics, Natural Law Ethics, Utilitarianism, Duty Ethics, have noteworthy ideas, the modified Divine Command Theory, also known as the Divine Nature Theory, is the most logically sufficient theory.