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Kantian Ethics Vs Virtue Ethics

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There have been many attempts by philosophers throughout history to decide the best way to live. Immanuel Kant created a system of ethics known as ‘Kantian Ethics’, and Jeremy Bentham created a consequentialist system known as ‘Utilitarianism’. Aristotle attempted to live a moral life through a character-refining system of ethics known as ‘Virtue Ethics’. There has been much discussion around the problems and benefits of each system of these systems, but, overall the matter of whether or not self-control is important in ethical life has been one of little debate. Self-control is important in both Kantian and Virtue ethics. It is necessary in Kantian ethics to do only the unconditional duties required of you, such as not lying or breaking promises, …show more content…

It dictates that we all have unconditional duties that we must always do, and uses the ‘categorical imperative’ to judge whether our actions are moral. The categorical imperative has 3 rules that must always be followed when making a decision, and these are the ‘ends’ rule, the ‘respect’ rule and the ‘univerisability rule’. These principle state that we must treat people as ends, not as means to an end, treat others with respect as if they were all rational moral agents, and our actions must be moral even when used by others in the same situation. It is evident that self-control is very important to follow this ethical …show more content…

Following vices is a much easier to do than follow virtues, for example, we can keep all of our money to ourselves and not share it to help anyone. But overall, following virtues leads to a more fulfilled life and is how one can achieve eudemonia, which is the greatest good. If a swimmer saw a drowning person, it would be the virtue of courage to go and save that person, however, if a poor swimmer saw a drowning person, it would be a vice of rashness to rescue them as they would be risking their lives as well as the drowning persons, no matter how much the poor swimmer wanted to save them. In this case, and in virtue ethics, self-control is necessary to live a virtuous life and achieve

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“We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.” ― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America. In this quote steinbeck poses the question of the value of virtue and its place in the world often as humans we are attracted to the opposite and it seems to workout fine sometimes.

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 Based on an evaluation of Aristotle’s arguments and the objection that stands against it, people are responsible for voluntary actions and involuntary actions whose circumstances or particulars they themselves have caused.   In order to evaluate Aristotle’s ethical argument, it is first necessary to explain his definitions of character acquisition, volition, and responsibility.  Aristotle defines character acquisition very succinctly:

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Its goal is excellence of character and making moral decision and right choices. Virtue theorists were Aristotle and Plato. They emphasized the kind of person to be to live a fruitful life and fulfill human telos (end). Virtues help to become excellent human beings as opposed to vices that lead to dysfunctional humans. Plato’s virtues included wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice to be a proper person and society.

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Kant’s theories believed that human beings have moral values

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Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative and John Stuart Mill’s view of utilitarianism are two very different approaches to ethics and morals. In fact, they are the opposite of one another. Kant’s view of ethics is an ethics of pure reason- a deontological theory of ethics. He stresses that feelings and emotions should have no part in ethics because they are unreliable, changeable, and uncertain. He states that ethical principles must be universal and that ethics are distinctively human.

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Nonetheless, Virtue Ethics is still flawed. Because there are no fixed rules, and because it relies on peoples’ reason and good will, it can often be an unsuccessful ethic. When people are under pressure, they may not use their reason. Virtue Ethics has also been criticized for teaching people to imitate the acts of virtuous people and to follow their role models. Kant says that role models are “fatal to mortality”.

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This theory expands to two different approaches and therefore sometimes is easily misunderstood. Virtue ethics consists of two differing approaches to ethics and can, therefore, be confusing to understand. Briefly the first approach emphasizes that there are certain dispositional character traits (virtues) that are suitable and worthy in general. More formally, virtue ethics represents a "systematic formulation of the traits of character that make human behavior praiseworthy or blameworthy" (Shelp, 1985, p.330). Theories of Ethics.

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For your reply, locate a member of your group with whom you disagree and tell them why you disagree with them with at least 200 words. The disagreement could be over which view they took or their understanding of the other views. Hi, Sarah! Thank you for sharing your opinion.

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Kantian ethics departs significantly from utilitarianism’s attention to consequences; the focus instead is with principles—a deontological strategy. Kant argued that individuals should be taken care of not simply as a way to one’s own ends but as ends with themselves (Jones, Felps, & Bigley, 2007). This emphasis on “respect for persons” stems from the view that individuals should be thought to be independent agents, with interests of the own and the judgment to do something on them. In other words, they should always be accorded the freedom to do something autonomously. Kant gave fantastic importance to reasons for acting—making the proper decisions for the proper reasons being the final goal.

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Virtue ethics perspective with respect of Wiggins observation, think that not fair that those students are treated this way because society works best when we care for one another. “Virtue ethical argue that a person chooses to be virtue, and virtue person cannot be bind to rules(deontology), or utilitarian ideology because virtue ethical is the heart of ethical being” (core handbook). virtue ethical will suggest that school administrators and teacher check their motives, if they doing that right thing educating the students, and if they show them genuine care. Then take courage to correct their actions, not because is their duty to students but because they care and want the best for them. Moreover, virtue ethical will recommend teachers

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According to Aristotle you also cannot truly have a judged life until death, meaning that you can’t be judged as to have a happy or virtuous life until death where all your actions can be observed. Since virtue is a mean between excess and deficiency, it varies from person to person, so there is no easy way to completely identify what is vice or how to stay away from it. You make decisions that will make you happy (going on with the means to end). Working to obtain money is generally considered as virtuous but if you obtain money in a vice manner to use it for a virtuous manner does that make you a vice person, not according to Aristotle. So unethical behavior can be had to achieve ethical goals that achieve your intrinsic goals of lifetime

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The idea of virtue ethics was first introduced to the world by Aristotle over 2,300 years ago in 325 BC (Rachels 173). Virtue ethics operate on the belief that people develop good character by looking at the virtues they admire in other people and emulating them. In order to do this, a person must ask themselves what kind of person they want to be and focus on choosing characteristics not specific people to emulate. Unfortunately, virtue ethics were quickly overshadowed by other perspectives on ethical theory as Christianity gained popularity and values changed. As time went on people stopped asking themselves, “What traits make a good person?”

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Hypothetical imperatives are duties that people ought to observe if certain ends are to be achieved. Categorical imperatives are the absolute and universal laws that guide moral actions. Kant believed that moral actions must be based on unconditional reasoning. Kant’s deontological principles of hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives have significantly influenced the medical field.

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Hyejin Jang Professor Writing DED 8 April 2016. 4. 7. Kant’s ethics differs from utilitarian ethics both in its scope and in the precision with which it guides action. In The Categorical Imperative, Kant emphasizes that human autonomy is the essence of morality.

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Virtues can play a big role in achieving economic success. Virtues-driven firms are more likely to maximize profits. However, acting virtuously does not always result in high profit because there are also many factors in business life. To accomplish a success, there needs to be number of goals within a business.

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