Like Aristotle's virtue-based ethics, utilitarians believe that happiness is the ultimate goal of human life and therefore of any ethical system that can be devised. Also like Aristotle, they perceived that to be virtuous required society; being virtuous when completely alone is impossible, as there is no one to be un-virtuous towards. This also means that individual happiness cannot be the only consideration in utilitarian ethics, but that the happiness or pleasure of the society must be measured to determine an act's ethical quality. Those acts which increased pleasure, or utility, were good; those which diminished utility, bad.
In this way, the utilitarian view of achieving happiness departed widely from Aristotle's. For him, happiness was a matter of personal fulfillment through the cultivation of virtues -- internal personal characteristics, not the act itself or its consequences, were the determiners of ethical behavior. In this way, Aristotle's system of virtue ethics was actually more similar to the ethics devised by Immanuel Kant.
Like Aristotle, Kant was more concerned with the motives behind an action than with the consequences of those actions. The utilitarians were interested only in the effect of an action -- whether it increased or decreased utility. This approach is primarily perceptive -- one can perceive whether an action increased or decreased happiness, and so determine if it was ethical....
Virtue Ethics: The Good and the Bad About Virtue Ethics The philosophy of virtue ethics holds that being a 'good person' or what one might call 'character' is the most important determinant of moral action. Virtue ethics is considered to be one of the major philosophical orientations in the field of normative ethics, along with consequentialism and deontology (Hursthouse 2010). Many consider it to be the oldest form of ethics, harkening
This will allow someone to move beyond the different emotions, so that they can be able to see how the different actions will affect the world around them. Despite some of the obvious weaknesses, you can be able to determine the most appropriate course of action, by asking questions and gaining more information. Once this achieved, you will have a greater sense of enlightenment, because you were able to
The question here arises, why did we have to return to ancient philosophy of virtue ethics? But interestingly while a great deal of credit is given to Aristotle and Plato, the modern moral philosophers such as Anscombe, Foot, Murdoch, Slote had mentioned in very precise terms the problems they found in Aristotelian ethics. They must have absorbed the writings of ancient philosophers since a lot is said about the moral
We do not seek honor because it is valuable in itself, we seek honor to make us feel good, to achieve happiness. Aristotle believed that a true, ultimate must be sought for its own sake, that the end goal be self-sufficient and final. For Aristotle, the good life is the "life of contemplation." Contemplation, the activity of the intellect, is loved for its own sake. It is not done in
virtue ethics deontology emphasizes importance virtues, moral character, deontology emphasizes duties rules. Suppose obvious helped. A deontologist point fact, helping agent acting accordance moral rule " Do " a virtue ethicist fact helping person charitable benevolent. To 'do good' or to 'be good'?: Deontological vs. virtue ethics In our daily lives, we often find ourselves torn between the competing demands of virtue ethics vs. deontology. Do we go with our 'gut
virtues the proper starting point for ethical theory? The debate about virtue ethics Main issues Critical analysis of virtue ethics criticism Virtues should be the starting point for ethical theory This paper revolves around the question that whether or not virtues are an appropriate starting point for ethical theory. I have presented the main criticism on virtue ethics theory followed by the defense of this theory by renowned virtue ethicists. There are three main
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