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Kantian ethics vs virtue ethics
Kantian ethics vs virtue ethics
Immanuel kant when is he lying ok
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Everyday people are faced with situations that they have to weigh their emotions out and decide if what their actions agree with their own internal moral code. Everyone faces challenges where they want to be successful, but at the same time want to be virtuous. To be virtuous means to have a morally good character. (Webster Dictionary) These issues are something that philosophers have been attempting to find the ethically correct answer to for centuries. One ethical dilemma that people are faced with daily is lying. A lie is an intentional false statement. Many people feel the need to lie to make themselves feel better or to get out of something they have done wrong. It is clear that in those situations it is morally wrong to lie, but what …show more content…
Kant 's argument may seem like the best answer to this question, but when examining Aristotle 's virtue ethics it is clear that his theory is stronger. Immanuel Kant wrote “But a lie is a lie, and itself is intrinsically evil, whether it be told with good or bad intents”. This quote shows that Kant believes that lying is never ethically justified no matter the circumstances. For example, if a father was in his home with his three sons who are very young and the house starts on fire. The children are not very smart and do not know what fire is and they love their toys too much to leave. The father has an ethical dilemma his options are; do I lie to my children and get them out of the burning house or do I let my children burn alive. Kant would say that lying is intrinsically evil. Meaning that no matter the circumstances lying is unacceptable. If the father wants to be a virtuous person he must not lie to his children, even in …show more content…
Aristotle states in his writings that it is infact ethically justified to lie but only when it is the mean between the two extremes, meaning that every virtue has two opposites. The first being excess and the second deficiency. For example, in a situation that involves fear the person who falls under the excess category would be rash, the person under deficiency would be a coward, and the mean would be courageous. Aristotle stressed that it is important to be a person that is the mean between deficiency and excess. A person in the mean would be someone who is virtuous and someone who has the best character traits. The traits, good or bad, are created by one 's natural tendencies. Aristotle says, “Virtue lies in our power, and similarly so does vice; because where it is in our power to act, it is also in our power not to act...” He believes that everyone has the power of their own actions. The actions that they make will eventually become their natural tendencies whether they are good or bad. This means that in Aristotle 's eyes everyone has the opportunity to be a virtuous person if they make the right
Aristotle further divided his thought on ethics into two categories, intellectual virtue and moral/social/political virtue. With respect to his views on moral virtue, Aristotle developed a doctrine that showed that virtue is staying in the mean, the doctrine of the mean. “The moral virtue is a mean…” (Aristotle 109). This doctrine claimed that having the right amount of a characteristic would be virtuous and most often is in between having too much or too little of ...
Using Kantian philosophy a lie is always immoral and wrong, no matter what the situation is. Kantian ethics establishes the idea that good will be based on the action itself rather than outcome or any inclination one may have to perform an act could be good will.
Aristotle believed that of the virtues learned in our youth, each has a respective excess and deficiency. The virtue is the mean (or midpoint) of the excess and deficiency. The mean can be thought of as “just right';, and the extremities can be labeled as “vices';. The mean should not be thought of as the geometric middle of the two vices- it varies between the vices, depending on the person. Aristotle believed that the mean and the vices are within our control and of the two extremes (vices) we should choose the less erroneous. It is not always easy to choose the less erroneous of the two. For example, Bill decides he wants to drink this Friday night, but he has to drive himself home. His choice of how much to drink lies between two vices: sobriety and drunkenness. Although neither may be his intention for the evening, it is obvious that the less erroneous of the two is sobriety. “So much, then, makes it plain that the intermediate state is in all things to be praised, but that we must incline sometimes towards the excess, sometimes towards the deficiency; for so shall we most easily hit the mean and what is right'; (Aristotle 387).
Virtue theory is the best ethical theory because it emphasizes the morality of an individual in which their act is upon pure goodness and presents as a model to motivate others. Aristotle was a classical proponent of virtue theory who illustrates the development habitual acts out of moral goodness. Plato renders a brief list of cardinal virtues consisting of wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. This ethical theory prominently contradicts and links to other theories that personifies the ideal being. However, virtue theorists differ from their own expression of these qualities yet it sets a tone that reflects on the desire to express kindness toward others.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
With different views on when it is OK to lie, the people continue to debate. But personally, I respect Kant’s views on the idea that lying is bad. Lying weakens the purpose to serve justice, destroys the liars’s dignity, and messes up the records. But I think that rare situations justify lies. I believe lies to save someone's life or just to protect someone from a big danger is the only type of lie that is justified. Those situations are the only times I think it is OK to lie. It might seem that lying to get yourself out of trouble is a situation that makes the lie justified. But I think that is a selfish reason for your own good and that people are thinking less about the society and more about their own good. Lying to get out of trouble is one of those many lies that are not justified.
In the article written by Barbara Ballinger, Brad Blanton states, “ We shouldn’t manipulate the truth except for rare times.”This is what some think, however lying to save a relationship is also important. This also states that lying is not a good thing, but lying can help save lives and jobs. In the article entitled “ Rejecting All Lies: Immanuel Kant states, “ A lie, even if it does not wrong any particular individual, always harms mankind individually, for it vitiates the source of law.” However, Kant was a German philosopher who lived in the 18th Century. This shows that what people think about lying now, might not be the same as back then. To conclude, others believe that lying is unjustified, however lying can be a form of protecting relationships and saving lives.
This cannot be said about the lies that are told to further ones career, influence others for personal gain, or to evade consequences of negative behaviors, etc. This type of lie appears to benefit the teller, and are often harmful to those that tell them and those that receive them. As a society, we condemn this type of untruth or falsehood, and deem the person that participates in such as untrustworthy and deceitful. In our society, we take great pride in being known as honest, and even our first president, George Washington, is quoted as saying "I cannot tell a lie", when questioned about cutting down his father’s cherry tree. But one has to question if this was completely true and fact. Did at any time he talk to his children about Santa, or did he ever say his wife looked beautiful, when in fact, he may have thought the attire she adorned herself with was anything
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
For example, as under Kant’s theory, one must never lie (for it does not meet either categorical imperatives), and while under most situations the truth prevails regardless, some situations do call for a little more sympathy. Consider someone who is suffering after a physical trauma - distressed in regards to how society will react to their now scarred body – asking you if they would ever be accepted as “normal” ever again. Acting under your own moral judgement, most individuals would seek to calm this person down, to settle their worries, and would proceed to act out of empathy and tell them that they are still just like everyone else. However, this is lie, they are evidently not like everyone else – they are missing limbs and their skin is covered in scars, so Kant would rather you tell them this and worsen their distress. Beyond this, the instinctive reaction to lie to the individual out of empathy is deemed not morally praiseworthy as you are not acting out of a motive of duty (i.e. the duty to not lie); rather you have acted out of
Both Kantian and virtue ethicists have differing views about what it takes to be a good person. Kantian ethicists believe that being a good person is strictly a matter of them having a “good will.” On the other hand, virtue ethicists believe that being a good person is a matter of having a good character, or being naturally inclined to do the right thing. Both sides provide valid arguments as to what is the most important when it comes to determining what a person good. My purpose in writing this paper is to distinguish between Kantian ethics and virtue ethics, and to then, show which theory is most accurate.
The virtues defined by Aristotle consist of two extremes or vices, the excess and the deficiency. The mean or the intermediate between the excess and the deficiency is the virtue. One virtue Aristotle explains is bravery, with its vices being rashness and cowardice. Each aspect of these is contrary to the others, meaning that the intermediate opposes the extreme. Similarly, one extreme opposes the mean and its other extreme. The implications of this are that the excess opposes the deficiency more than the mean. This causes the mean to sometimes resemble its neighboring extreme. Obtaining the mean involves the challenge of being excellent. The challenging part, however, is “doing it to the right person, in the right amount, at the right time, for the right end, and in the right way” (Nicomachean Ethics 1109a28-29:29). Fortunately, one can steer themselves to the mean if one is conscious of the extreme they are naturally inclined to go towards. Since everybody is uniquely different the means by which one steers themselves in the right direction is different for each individual. In addition, Aristotle names three requirements for an action to be a virtue. First one must be cons...
Aristotle, argued that he could not judge a person on the basis of one example and wanted to look at the whole over time. Additionally he argued virtue was found between the extremes of each characteristic. Balance between the extremes of emotion was his main concern (Manning and Stroud 59). Virtue ethics requires one to strive for excellence, a process that happens over a long period of time. It includes learning about ethics, struggling with them, and eventually living ethically (Class
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our 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 a sense of well-being.
Lying is something that can make or break relationships with people. People will not only lose their trust in you after they have figured out the truth, but they will lose their respect for you. Nobody wants to be friends with a liar, associate themselves with a liar, or marry a liar. Guilt is another underlying consequence that comes with the liability of lying. Lying to family or friends or both can and will leave you feeling guilty because you are killing the trust they have put into you. Lying is an art which can be successfully determined by its effectiveness and ability not to be caught and the morality of lying is determined by the intentions of the liar. To lie or not to lie all depends on the benefits or the consequences that follow it.