Virtue ethics strengths

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Created by: SadeOlivia
Created on: 06-08-15 10:57

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Virtue ethics strengths
- Virtue ethics avoids having to use a formula to work out what we ought to do and focuses instead on the kind of person we ought to be
- Virtue ethics stresses the importance of motivating people to want to be good
  - It stresses the importance of education in showing that good actions are their own reward. It shows how we acquire and learn virtues by imitating others
- Virtue ethics tells us how we learn moral principles and involves our entire life, as every moment, even the most mundane, is an opportunity for developing a virtue
- Virtue ethics enables us to integrate many aspects of life into our ethical reflection
  - It looks at what makes life worthwhile rather than looking at what is right or wrong in a particular situation or particular moment in our lives whilst including our emotions
- Virtue ethics sees it as good to be biased in favour of friends and family unlike utilitarianism or Kant which se impartiality as important
- Virtue ethics understands the need to distinguish good people from legalists
  - Just because one obeys the law and follows the rules does not make one a good person
- Virtue ethics does not pretend to be able to tell us what a good person would do in every possible situation but encourages us to be more like such a person so that we will not need an ethical theory to make our decisions for us
Virtue ethics understands the need to distinguish good people from legalists
- Just because one obeys the law and follows the rules does not make one a good person