Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics is a school of thought we use every day and may not even know it. The term virtue ethics is a term for the theories that value character in a moral philosophy. Its means is to bring out the good in consequences. Virtue activists gain much of their ‘inspiration’ from Aristotle; striving to live by some of his advice such as, “Act as a virtuous person would act in your situation”. Similar to what most people consider the golden rule; “Do onto others as you would like done onto you”. Simply meaning, treat other show you want to be treated. If you were a virtue ethicist, you would act in good character to someone without looking for a favor or reward in return. You would act kindly because it is in your nature and who you are as

In an ideal world, the virtue ethic would be seemingly great to live by. To do the right thing without the fear of consequences would be a beautiful way to live life. It is often quoted that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, this is such a fitting quote pertaining to the virtue ethics theory because, every person in this world has a different idea of what is morally right and how they perceive virtue. Just because you think that you are doing the virtuous action; are you actually? Virtues change with time and setting, there is no definitive answer to decide if you are doing something morally right. There is also no true test to see if someone is being sincerely virtuous. Someone can tell you that they are being selfless and that they are not looking for anything in return, but can you believe them, so easily? In a perfect world you may be able to and maybe everyone would tell the truth, but now, in this world most people want more than what they lead others to believe. This is where the virtue ethics theory falls short of becoming a great theory to live by. You can easily strive to do the morally right thing based on someone’s actions; however there are still consequences and you still need to be aware of