Perez - Virtue Ethics Thesis

CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY
Mandaue, Cebu
ETHICS THESIS:
THE REWARD OF VIRTUE ETHICS
Submitted by:
Jamie Angelo S. Perez

BSN-1C
Submitted to:
Sir Arnold Luminado

Ethics Teacher
The Reward of Virtue Ethics
What makes a man virtuous? The Greek philosopher Aristotle says, “Virtuous
activities determine our happiness.” It means that virtues are necessary for the
attainment of a good life. Instead of asking the question “What is the right thing to
do?” virtue ethics asks “How ought I to live my life?” or “What kind of person ought I to
be?”
Virtue ethics does not directly provide the criterion for right action. Instead, it
emphasizes the importance of developing the right character, temperament, attitude,
purpose, and emotion, all of which are necessary for a moral agent to do the right
thing. It shows that a person’s motivation or reason in doing good may not be, for
instance, the consequences that follow from his actions or his moral duty to do the
good. With that being said, as a human being we have the ability to know what is right
and what is wrong and it is in the choices we make. A person may lawfully perform an
act which has two effects; one good and one evil. It’s when the following conditions are
met; when the act which has two effects is not in itself an evil act, when the evil effect
does not come before the good effect so as to be a means to it, when there exists a
reason, proportionately weighty, which calls for the good effect and when the agent
that is, the doer or performer of the act intends the good effect exclusively, and merely
permits the evil effect as a regrettable side-issue.
Moral relativism clarifies the fact that when it comes to morality, whether right or
wrong, everyone has their own viewpoint. Some people will think something is evil,
while others will think it is healthy. Morality is the quality of human acts which leads us
to call some of them good and some evil. Morality measures up to what it should be as
a step towards the objective last end of human action, or fails so to measure up. It
consists therefore in the relation existing between human acts and the norm of
morality. The morality of an act is its character as good or evil and is not a mere
external denomination or classification neither a mere label pasted on arbitrarily. It is
something that belongs inevitably to the human act as such, either to the act
considered objectively as a deed performed, or to the act considered as characterized
by its circumstances, particularly the circumstance called the end of the agent. A thing
is good in as much as it can answer a tendency, appetite and desire. In other words, it
is good in as much as it serves as an end of such tendency. Moral relativism differs
from virtue ethics in that actions are irrelevant. It all boils down to the kind of person
you are on the inside. Within, who you are will assist you in making moral decisions.
In relation to what constructs a virtue is the origin of virtue in a person. Virtue is
not born in a person; rather it is learned through experiences. A baby is not born
knowing what is too much and what is not enough, nor do they know what their
responsibilities are. This simply means that virtues are acquired through the
developmental stage of an individual as they continue to experience and learned by
their environment.
There are no intrinsically bad deeds, according to Aristotle, since different people
behave differently in the same situation. According to the Virtue Theory, an action is
good if it is carried out by someone who is motivated by virtue and bad if it is carried
out by someone who is motivated by sin. This supports the idea that morality is a
disposition since a good individual would, under theory, make the best decision in any
circumstance. One great example would be in the situation of self-defense wherein it is
the right to prevent suffering force or violence through the use of a sufficient level of
counteracting force or violence. It cannot be said that a woman is a bad person or that
what she did was wrong if she is assaulted by a man with a gun and is about to be
violently raped, but she manages to get the gun away from the man and shoots him to
save herself. She would most likely be praised for her bravery and for doing the right
thing.
In totality, it is important to understand how virtue ethics would greatly impact

our perspective about life in which it teaches moral principles in combatting challenges
and obstacles in life. Let us put in mind, that the habitual disposition and performance
of an act with the right reason, motivation, and emotion are what is meant by virtue.
Once virtues are acquired, it is not difficult to see why a virtuous person cannot follow
the rules because in fact virtues themselves become the rules. Aristotle argues that
goodness is difficult and that being decent is a difficult challenge. The difficulty stems
from the fact that the system must be used in real life. It's difficult to apply the scheme
in real life because, in the case of bravery, you won't have an easy option. It will always
be more difficult, and errors will inevitably be made.
References:
Galeon, A. et.al. (2018). Ethics: The grounds of Morality and the Search for Good Life.
Verbum books.
Kraut, R. (June 15, 2018). Aristotle’s Ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy.

Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/

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CEBU DOCTORS’ UNIVERSITY

Jamie Angelo S. Perez

Sir Arnold Luminado

In totality, it is important to understand how virtue ethics would greatly impact

Kraut, R. (June 15, 2018). Aristotle’s Ethics. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy.

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