Virtue Ethics And Its Understanding Of Moral Life

Aristotle’s formulation of virtue ethics revolves around three key Greek words: Eudaimonia, arête, and Telos. Each of these terms respectively translates into happiness, virtue, and final cause. Unlike the hedonistic

Conclusively, an individual’s life events are determined by these virtues, either satisfied, or not lived up to, which asserts that the nature of one’s character may be described by these virtues and not by the consequences of their actions or inaction, as Deontology might begin to describe. The things people do, and the moral implications they may imply, according to Virtue Ethics, are a matter of how well these virtues correspond to their behaviors. If it is a virtue to be convincing and make use of the knowledge one have learned, then by virtue, an individual may become determined to write an article as convincingly as possible, and it is these virtues which will inspire them to convince the reader that they have an understanding of the concepts being written about.

Virtue ethics is a normative theory whose foundations were laid by Aristotle. This theory approaches normative ethics in substantially different ways than consequentialist and deontological theories. In this essay, I will contrast and compare virtue ethics to utilitarianism, ethical egoism, and Kantianism to demonstrate these differences. There is one fundamental aspect of virtue ethics that sets it apart from the other theories I will discuss. For the sake of brevity and to avoid redundancy, I will address it separately. This is the fundamental difference between acting ethically within utilitarianism, egoism, and Kantianism. And being ethical within virtue ethics. The other theories seek to define the ethics of actions while virtue ethics does not judge actions in any way. The other theories deal with how we should act, while virtue ethics determines how we should be.

Virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches in ethics. This approach of ethics emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to other approaches which emphasizes duties or rules. Virtue ethics has three central concepts; virtue, practical wisdom, and eudemonia, however, these are often misunderstood. The three approaches of ethics are virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics, and deontology ethics. Each approach provides a different way to understanding ethics.

Aristotle’s idea of Virtue Ethics was influenced by his belief that all things and all humans have a purpose (a telos). For him a complete explanation of something has to include its final cause or purpose which essentially is to realise its potential. Virtue Ethics itself is concerned with the characteristics of a person rather than how a person behaves and it is this he outlined in his book Nicomachean Ethics. A ‘’virtue’’ are qualities that lead to a good life e.g. courage and honesty. Aristotle explains for a person to adopt these qualities into their own lives is to maximise their potential to achieve a happy life and he goes

Luke is in charge of ABC Company’s land development project in building an adult entertainment store on the land they recently purchased. Unfortunately, his brother, Owen, happens to live in the same area. Luke remembers Owen once told him he is thinking about selling his house, since he recently received a decent offer from a real estate firm. However, he is debating whether he should sell it or waits for the real estate to rise. Luke realizes with the appearance of adult entertainment in the near future, the values of Owen’s house and other houses in neighborhood are likely to drop significantly.

Virtue ethics is concerned with the traits of character that make one a good person. Virtue ethics seems to be more personal because it is not about choosing which side of an issue one would prefer to take part in, but the kind of person one wants to be. A virtuous person is considered to be a morally good person, and virtues are good traits. For virtue ethics, the moral life is about developing good character.

In the consideration of MAID from a virtue ethics standpoint, the concern is whether a nurse assisting in the end of life process of a patient is morally and thereby ethically right. As a result of the core values of nursing focusing on saving lives and returning individuals to a state of good health, assisted dying promotes a conflicting value. Through my research I have found three consistent themes, moral intent, autonomy, and healing. I propose these be used as guidelines to determine the ethical nature of assisted dying, on a case-by-case basis. If one of the proposed guidelines is not met, the act of assisted dying is to be considered unethical. Medically assisted dying with the help of a nurse is right as long

Ethics and virtue have been a very contentious issue facing society for centuries. Many argue over the merits of various theories, each with its own philosophies and assumptions. It is this argument that has given rise to many popular and followed theories of ethics and virtues. The theories discussed primarily in this document include the virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological theory. Each is very distinct to the others in regards to its principles and assumptions regarding human behavior. Each however, has merit in regards to question of ethics and virtue, and how it should subsequently be valued.

Aristotle’s form of ethics, known as virtue ethics, focus on the idea of these virtues. Happiness,

Virtue Ethics is centred on the belief that everything has a purpose and that, when something fulfils its purpose, it is good. For example, the purpose of a knife is to cut, and so a knife that cuts well has achieved its purpose. This links in to Aristotle’s ideas about the Four Causes and the Final Cause. Plato and Aristotle agreed that the purpose of humanity was the fulfilment of flourishing, and this is known as eudaimonia. When a person has achieved eudaimonia they will be fully content with their lives and they will act morally because they want to. He referred to eudaimonia as “an end in itself”. Aristotle insists that this telos can only be achieved through the use of reason, since the ‘ergon’ (function) of reason in practice is virtue. He says: “The good

We will first look at Aristotle, as we cannot know what eudemonism is not, if one doesn’t know what it is. Essentially it is the belief that virtue and supreme happiness are synonymous. This supreme happiness is what Aristotle called eudemonia, which he considers the highest end; people do not live for things like health for example as that is a subordinate to eudemonia, and is more of a byproduct to living the good life, rather than the good life itself.3 He deems reason as central to living the good life, as it is what he believes sets human beings apart from all other beings. In order to use one’s reason properly he states that one must be virtuous, and if one can do that it will help him reach the goal of eudemonia. This is the basic thought process behind eudemonism.

Virtue ethics was written by a Greek philosopher names Aristotle. Aristotle believed that every human’s goal was happiness. Some philosophers argued that happiness only came from following a set of rules, while Aristotle argued that the best way to have happiness is to cultivate a virtuous character. The two kinds of virtues he recognized were moral virtue and intellectual virtue. The virtue that should be focused on to develop a virtuous character is moral virtue. According to Aristotle, while we are born with a capacity to be virtuous, being virtuous is like a skill that we need to learn and practice to be good at. The key element to being virtuous is being able to find the mean or right amount of our various emotions, dispositions, and actions. Aristotle wrote: “Anybody can become angry- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for

you ask what the virtues are, it is likely you would be told that we

“Happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it...” (Aristotle) . The relationship between virtue and happiness have an close and personal relationship . Virtue is necessary for eudaimonia but it is not sufficient for eudaimonia . Aristotle believes that virtue is most important to eudaimonia , because eudaimonia involves activity which is exhibiting excellence or virtue . Eudaimonia will be gained when something is developed properly . To exhibit something well one must do it with excellence ; therefore eudaimonia is dependent on virtue . In order to live a happy life a person must be virtuous , and in order to be virtuous someone must act in the right way and live by the right sort of reasons . For