Is Ethics Based on Character?: Importance of Character and Narrative in Virtue Ethics
Kantian and Utilitarian theories tend to isolate moral decisions in the present moment and separate them from personal histories. In contrast, virtue ethics emphasizes the long-term nature of basic ethical choices and the advantage of using a life-s...
Moral Dilemmas...Can Ethics Help?: Moral Dilemmas...Can Ethics Help?
The parents and medical staff caring for a premature baby struggling for life are faced with the decision of whether or not to continue treatment. Philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose ideas have influenced modern medical ethics, would answer such a ques...
What Justifies the State?: John Rawl's Theory of Justice
In the early 1970s John Rawls uses the tradition of social contract as the basis for creating an imagined group that must decide on the rules of justice behind a "veil of ignorance." It is Rawls' contention that people will generate just rules if fo...
Can Rules Define Morality?: Kantian Ethics
"Can Rules Define Morality?" addresses Immanuel Kant's rights-based theories of ethics, the categorical imperative. What was new about Kant's moral philosophy is that a superhuman authority is not necessary to determine morality. Our own reason, he ...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Criticisms and Concerns about Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics is criticized for failing to provide clear rules for action that would help people facing crises. It is not a theory about what people ought to do, but an inquiry into the kind of person we ought to be. Another criticism is that virtue...