Ethics and virtue in philosophical thought

Virtue as an Ethical Concept

The objective of this study is to examine virtue as an ethical concept. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that virtue ethics is a "broad term for theories that emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing one's duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences." (2014, p. 1)

Virtue Defined

The virtue ethics theorist adheres to Aristotle's definition of the virtuous person as being "someone who has ideal character traits. These traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once established, they will become stable." (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2014, p. 1)

Examples of Virtue

The virtuous person has behavior that demonstrates such traits as kindness, honesty and fairness. For example, it is reported that the virtuous person is "someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is her character and not because she wants to maximize utility or gain favors to do her duty." (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2014, p. 1) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy reports that a virtue "such as honesty or generosity is not just a tendency to do what is honest or generous, nor is it to be helpfully specified as a "desirable" or "morally valuable" character trait. It is indeed a character trait -- that is, a disposition which is well entrenched in its possessor, something that as we say "goes all the way down," unlike a habit such as being a tea-drinker -- but the disposition in question, far from being a single track disposition to do honest actions, or even honest actions for certain reasons, is multi-track. It is concerned with many other actions as well, with emotions and emotional reactions, choices, values, desires, perceptions, attitudes, interests, expectations and sensibilities. To possess a virtue is to be a certain sort of person with a certain complex mindset." (2014, p. 1)

Kindness

Joseph B. Wirthin, of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles writes that kindness "is the essence of a celestial life. Kindness is how a Christlike person treats others. Christ instructed his followers to do unto others as they would have done unto them. In other words, treat others as one wants to be treated. Kindness is a virtue because kindness requires that the individual always attempt to view life from the eyes of those that they interact with so that they are able to be kind to the other person from the other person's individual and unique point-of-view.

Honesty

One of the Ten Commandments stated in the Holy Bible contains the commandment stating "Thou shalt not lie." Treating other people with respect by being honest with them is a virtue that is valued by the most of society. Honest is an integral and fundamental virtue that is a prerequisite for the individual to be considered as a virtuous person. Biddle (2013) writes of honest that it is "the refusal to fake reality -- i.e., to pretend that facts are other than they are." (p.1) Biddle writes that honest is the "flip side of rationality" in that while rationality "is the commitment to think, judge, and act with respect to the relevant facts, honesty is the commitment not to do otherwise." (Biddle, 2013, p. 1) The Greeks identified ten essential virtues and included among these virtues it the virtue of "justice" which is related to respecting the rights of all individuals and is such that is centered on elements including "honesty." (Cortland EDU, nd, p.1)

Fairness

In the Bible the word fairness is not mentioned however, that which is just is spoken of. Just means that which is commonly held to be right for all concerned. However, justice is

Summary and Conclusion