Virtue Ethics Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived between 384 and 322 BCE. He was deeply interested in the idea of cause and purpose. On the Foundation Paper‚ you will have explored the ideas of the Four Causes and the Prime Mover. Both of these theories look at the idea of how things are caused and how they move towards their purpose. In ethics‚ any theory that looks at how we become better people over time‚ or that looks at how we move towards our purpose is called a teleological
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Virtue ethics asks What kind of person should I be? What kind of person should I strive to be? I should strive to be virtuous. Thus‚ the notion of virtue becomes fundamental. What is a virtue? A fixed positive character trait that involves various dispositions. For Aristotle morality is about living in accordance with virtue. Every activity has some goal or end and his project here is to figure out what the Good consists in According to Aristotle something is good to the extent that it fulfills
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Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that states that the right course of action would maximises the most utility. An action is right if the sum total of utilities produced by that act is greater than the sum total utilities produced by any other. Utility is defined in various ways so there are some misunderstandings of using utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that an action is right when the action produces the most utility for all persons affected by the action so we should compare the utility
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Assess the merits of Utilitarianism (24 Marks) Utilitarianism is a theory aimed at defining one simple basis that can be applied when making any ethical decision. It is based on a human’s natural instinct to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Jeremy Bentham is widely regarded as the father of utilitarianism. He was born in 1748 into a family of lawyers and was himself‚ training to join the profession. During this process however‚ he became disillusioned by the state British law was in and set out
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Mill‚ John Stuart. Utilitarianism 2nd ed. Edited by George Sher. Indianapolis‚ IN: Hackett Publishing Company‚ Inc.‚ 2001. INTRODUCTION It can be argued that no other philosophical system has so permeated Western thought as utilitarianism. From the early Greek thinkers like Epicures to post-Enlightenment writers such as Jeremy Bentham‚ the expediency of utilitarianism has been defended and expounded. Perhaps the most famous proponent of utility for modern times is John Stuart Mill. Mill
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hurting‚ then it is okay to lie to or torture someone. Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that the action you choose to perform should result in “the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people” (MacKinnon and Fiala). It is a form of consequentialism that focuses on the consequences of actions that affect everyone rather
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Strengths and Weaknesses Of Virtue Ethics The virtue ethicist suggests that this theory avoids the complicated tasks of using a formula to figure out what we should do‚ by instead focusing on the kinds of persons we sould be. The problem lies in determining how we know what kinds of persons we should be. How are we to determine just what the virtues are? If we don’t know what the virtues are‚ then telling people to live virtuously would be ignorant. The virtues are whatever character
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Fried Pataters Mr. Hahn Phil 2310 10 May 2010 Virtue Ethics and Ethics of Care Aristotle and Rita Manning both have different theories when it comes to ethics. Aristotle uses virtue ethics to answer questions about morality whereas Manning uses what is called ethics of caring to do the same thing. Virtue ethics claims people’s actions aim towards the highest good of happiness. From happiness‚ moral virtue stems from reasons governing the desires of the soul. Manning on the other hand believes
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“The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.” - Leon Trotsky. This quote closely relates to a philosophy that became popular in Russia in the 1860’s- utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a philosophy defined as the idea of the moral worth of an action is determined only by the contribution to the overall utility‚ the contribution of happiness or pleasure among all people. Meaning‚ the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its outcome. Moral choices
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Game Theory Orton K.C. Tsun April 1‚ 2012 Introduction As individuals‚ we make decisions throughout the day weighing the cause and effect‚ cost and benefit‚ risk and impact of our actions on ourselves and upon others. When taken to a larger scale‚ as the manager of a team‚ the CEO of a corporation‚ or the leader of a nation‚ the decisions exponentially increase in impact and importance. Game Theory‚ the analysis of the concepts used in social reasoning when dealing with situations of
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