Strengths & Weaknesses of Virtue Ethics

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Strengths & Weaknesses of Virtue Ethics

Advantages

  • Motivates us to work on morality (unlike other theories, that simply state what to do when in an ethical dilemma)
  • Maps on to moral reasoning
  • Good to be partial (when it concerns family for instance), we are naturally inclined to making biased decisions. Virtue ethics acknowledges this.
  • Doesn't rely on a theory: self-improvement. Focuses on the individual and building ourselves into better people, more focus on individuality and aforementioned development of moral reasoning.

Disadvantages

  • No single & definitive answer to what the virtues are, they are time-changing.
  • No single & definitive answer to what is to be done in moral dilemmas.
  • Hard to tell what someone's motives are / some may not even want to develop moral virtues?
  • Doesn't concern right or wrong action - these virtues don't distinguish between what the right course of action would be when in an ethical dilemma, just describe what sort of characteristics one ought to develop.
  • Might not be any Telos. Where will these virtues lead to? Is there a reason for the development of these virtues?

Evaluation

Although Virtue ethics strives at making the individual a better person and instilling virtuous qualities in him/her, it does not really help when encountering an ethical dilemma, as there are not any guidelines on what to do as Normative Ethics suggests. Moral reasoning, arguably, could be what is 'supposed' to help overcome ethical conflicts, but what if one's reasoning is flawed or immoral? Therefore, I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages

Comments

paige27

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its **** 

paige27

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great

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