Virtue Ethics

Among the three normative ethics – virtue, duty-based, and consequentialist – virtue ethics seems to make the most sense.  For example, in terms of lying, a consequentialist would argue that lying is wrong because of the negative consequences that are produced.  A deontologist, or duty-based ethicist, would argue that lying is always wrong, regardless of good potentials.  Finally, a virtue ethicist would focus less on lying and instead consider what the decision says about one’s character and moral behavior – thus choosing to lie on a case-by-case basis.  To me, this makes the most sense because not every situation is the same, and, therefore, you can’t always follow the same set of rules.

“Plato taught that among the many admirable virtues there were four of utmost significance, which later became known as the cardinal virtues:  wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice.”  “Aristotle taught that good moral character should be formed in youth and, thus, it is the responsibility of adults – especially parents – to instill in children the habits of good character.”  Your life should be devoted to achieving balance – achieving all things in moderation.  Too much courage leads to rashness, while too little courage leads to cowardice; too much ambition leads to greed, yet too little leads to laziness; and so on.

Doing a little further research I found that there are three main branches of virtue ethics, according to this article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:  eudaimonism, agent-based, and ethics of care.  Eudaimonism is loosely translated as happiness, contentment, and fulfillment, and is a means to live and fare well.  It is the life of virtue - activity in accordance with reason, man's highest function.  By their very nature, human beings act rationally, which allows us to make decisions, change our character, and allow others to hold us responsible for those decisions. Agent based ethics focuses on our common sense intuitions about which character traits are admirable, such as benevolence, kindness, and compassion.  Ethics of care, developed mainly by feminist, calls for a change in how we view morality and virtues by switching from masculine terms (like justice and autonomy) to more feminine terms (like patience and self-sacrifice).

Because virtue ethics makes the most sense to me, it is the ethic reasoning I use the most.  I’ll give an example of something I do on a daily basis:  speeding.  When I’m on streets, throughout town and such, I tend to drift between the speed limit and five miles over.  On the highway, however, my average speed drifts between 80 and 85.  Why do I do this?  Well, on city streets there are more dangers, if you will.  There’s more stops made, more congestion, more pedestrians, more turns, more cops, etc.  The highway on the other hand, is open road, and you just go.  Now, I speed on case-by-case situations and obviously go the speed limit and follow the flow of traffic when there’s an accident, congestion, bad weather, and road work.  I don’t dangerously traffic weave while going a million miles an hour and never braking or using turn signals; I usually don’t ride close behind people.  I just like going fast and getting to my destination.  I my eyes, I’m not harming anyone. [Duty-based ethics wouldn’t speed because it is breaking the law, while consequentialist wouldn’t speed because the consequence is a ticket.]

When it makes sense to follow the rules, I do.  When it doesn’t make sense to follow the rules, I don’t.  I try to go through life using reason to achieve happiness and contentment.  Life is a balancing act - it's something you always have to work on.