Virtue Ethics And Immanuel Kant's Virtue Ethics

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

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

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