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ETHICAL THEORY DISCUSSION

Lennis Yesenia Ortega

Ethics 101

Feb 11, 2020

There are several different philosophies of moral and ethical frameworks. These include metaethics, virtue ethics, natural law ethics, utilitarianism and duty ethics among many others. Among these, virtue ethics is the most rational moral theory because it does not split reasons and motives, and because it leads to happiness or eudemonia.

Virtue ethics stresses the importance of virtues and individual character in assessing the justness of actions. The theory is often compared to other theories such as consequentialism, which highlights the importance of consequences in determining the permissibility of various actions . In virtue ethics, an action is morally good if that is what a virtuous person would do. . These virtues include aspects of humanity like generosity, honesty, kindness and love among others, as opposed to vices like selfishness, cruelty, and dishonesty. Therefore, the goodness of an action is dependent on the virtue behind the act, the person doing it and their character

Another reason why virtue ethics is the best approach to morality is because it does not split reasons and motives. The splitting of motives and reason has been dubbed as moral schizophrenia whereby there is a conflict between personal motives and the reasoning behind them. Such a problem is witnessed in other philosophies such as deontology and consequentialism since they require people to do the right thing regardless of their motives. Under this philosophy, an individual’s reasoning must be followed even when it conflicts with their own motives. It is more difficult to achieve a happy life when using other philosophies as opposed to virtue ethics. Life becomes fulfilling when a person’s duty is aligned with virtue.. Therefore, virtue ethics leads to greater happiness because it teaches virtue to be desirable as opposed to obligatory.

Virtue ethics also leads to the achievement of eudemonia, which is happiness or flourishing. Living a virtuous life is needed for one to achieve happiness or eudaimonia . When humans devote themselves to wealth and physical pleasure, they do not achieve real happiness but end up living a wasted, hedonistic life. However, those who live in virtue live a happy and fulfilling life, even being compelled to face personal risk for a worthwhile cause . This could potentially be observed in today’s culture where celebrities who seek pleasure above all else often end up failing miserably in life. Some end up on drugs while others commit suicide after they fail to find meaning. However, celebrities who live a virtuous life, which could include generosity or being charitable, end up living content and happy. If eudemonia is to be seen as the ultimate goal, virtue ethics seems to be an effective means of reaching it.

In conclusion, the best philosophy that should be used in judging whether something is morally good or not is virtue ethics. The ideology stands above other moral theories because it does not split reasons and motives and also because it prioritizes happiness.

Bibliography

Duffy, John. "The good writer: Virtue ethics and the teaching of writing." College English 79, no. 3 (2017): 229-250.

Han, Hyemin. "Virtue ethics, positive psychology, and a new model of science and engineering ethics education." Science and Engineering Ethics 21, no. 2 (2015): 441-460.

Stanford University. “Virtue ethics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016.

� Han, Hyemin. "Virtue ethics, positive psychology, and a new model of science and engineering ethics education." Science and Engineering Ethics 21, no. 2 (2015): 441-460.

� Ibid Han pg. 463.

� Duffy, John. "The good writer: Virtue ethics and the teaching of writing." College English 79, no. 3 (2017): 229-250.

� Stanford University. “Virtue ethics.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016.