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Virtue Ethics Research Paper

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2- Virtue Ethics is an ethical theory that puts emphasis on a person’s morals and their character. There is a single major difference between Aristotle and Plato’s stance on how to lead a virtuous life. Plato simply states that knowing a virtue is good enough. If you know the right thing to do, then you will do it and lead a virtuous life. Comparatively, Aristotle says that although we may intellectually know the right thing to do, our will may fail. We may not always do the right thing and follow the virtue if we only know it. In order to lead a virtuous life, we must form virtuous qualities and practice these virtues.

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4- Aristotle uses the idea of a mean to help explain virtues. He first explains that for any quality of life, too much or too little could destroy it. “Thus a master of any art avoids excess and defect, but seeks the intermediate and chooses this – the intermediate not in the object but relatively to us” (Pg. 73). He uses the examples health and strength. He says this is the same for virtues. The virtues we hold are intermediates between two extremes: deficiency and excess. For example, the virtue of justice is a mean. It is the mean between too much punishment and too little punishment for a crime. If someone were to give too much or too little punishment, they would be ignoring the mean between …show more content…

Kant says that perfect duties are based on reason and grant no exceptions. Imperfect duties are also based on reason and are binding however they grant exceptions. These duties can also be categorized by duties to self and duties to others. Kant talks about how it is our perfect duty to others to treat them as an end and not only as means. This means that we should treat others as people, and not just as tools for our own end. This is a perfect duty to others, which means that if we do not meet this we can be blamed and there are no exceptions for not following this

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