Is Ethics Based on Character?: Character-based Ethics
Until recent decades modern ethics was dominated by two approaches that focus on action. The movement that focuses on character rather than action has come to be known as virtue ethics. Looking at ethics in terms of who you are and how your life is ...
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...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: How to Address Ethical Issues
One way to approach moral philosophy is to take each of the different ethical theories in turn and see how it would address a single moral question. Seneca, the Roman writer saw life as a series of concentric circles. What you are doing today has si...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Using Virtue Ethics in Complex Situations
In contrast to utilitarianism and Kantianism, virtue ethics is helpful in making sound judgments in complex situations. The virtue at work here is what Aristotle calls phronesis-- practical intelligence or wisdom. You learn for yourself why it is im...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Virtue Ethics--A Learned Skill
In ancient philosophy, virtues are often compared to skills. Each of the basic parts of human nature has its own special virtue or standard of how people ought to be. As a guideline Aristotle recommends seeking the mean or middle course between extr...
Is Ethics Based on Character?: Virtue Ethics and Modern Psychology
Virtue ethics parallels many features of modern psychology. One such characteristic is a high regard for emotion, considered to be in close alliance with reason. Virtue ethics recognizes how we become who we are through relationships with others. Th...
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...