Virtue Ethics The True Stem Of Moral Character - 1445 Words

Jiovanni Rodriguez Philosophy 103 2014 December 2nd Virtue Ethics: The True Stem of Moral Character Moral character is what dictates an individual s decision making and affects their experiences throughout their life. A person s morals can be based off one s upbringing and environmental factors. Virtue ethics is a philosophical view that greatly supports this claim that the choices a person makes and their actions follow those choices, and display their moral character. This is more likely to be true than Kantianism because this type of ethical view is based off Immanuel Kant, a philosophical thinker whose emphasizes that his writings and beliefs influence the choices people make. However, people do what is morally acceptable in†¦show more content†¦Virtue ethics, on the other hand, doesn t focus exclusively on actions, but on the character of the individual. There are a number of different perceptions of virtue ethics and many different ways to interpret the lessons behind it, but one of the first and most efficient teaching s came from Aristotle s. He argued that virtue is learned, it is a skill we acquire over time and most of the time it represents a mean or middle way between two extremes. For example, if there was an accident and a car began to burn on fire with someone trapped in it; a rash person rushes in without a care to save the person, were as a cowardly person does nothing. A sensible person weighs out the options before making any decisions, and perhaps goes in, or perhaps just waits for help to arrive. There are three main focuses when breaking down the difference between these important theories. One is based on duty and a fixed moral law (Kant), one is based on enlightened self interest, or what makes us all happy (utilitarianism), and one sees being good as an art that we learn (virtue ethics). A person will try to perform good deeds knowing they will receive a positive outcome. Same goes with a bad decision, thinking about how the result of ones actions and how it could negatively affect you may cause you think twice about your actions before you do them. Moreover, this is where our