VIRTUE ETHICS

by: Doreen Nizza Ferrer, BSMT-T2

Virtue ethics is different from other theories because in this theory it doesn’t dictate anyone
what to do, it simply uses someone’s virtue or character as the key element of ethical thinking rather
than using set of rules to guide their actions in becoming a good person and this actually became the
main argument of this theory. This theory believes that having virtue or being a virtuous person is
enough to know always what’s the right thing to do in a specific time or situation. Aristotle, founder
of this theory, believed that nature has built into us the desire to be virtuous. He defined virtue as a
set of character traits that once developed will lead to predictably good behavior. How? If a person
has already master the art of being a person or simply virtuous, that person is able to know what’s
the right thing to do all the time regardless of the situation he is in, he always target the mesotes/
golden mean for every time he’s going to make decisions just to make sure that he will act in just
the right amount, he also knows how to recognize others help when he can’t handle the huge
situation alone, also has the ability to go bring out the best in him as a person but most of all, being
a virtuous person also means being able to direct his actions toward his innate purpose and therefore
achieve his goal, Eudaimonia or a life well lived, simply happiness. Achieving “Eudaimonia” is
basically the main reason why Aristotle stated that each human being has the desire to be virtuous.
But how do we become virtuous? Since we are rational humans, we have practical wisdom and we
can level this up through consistently and habitually determining the good and does the good. If we
can develop more our ability to recognize the virtuous act done by other people and emulate and do
it over and over again, this will become part of our habit, and eventually become part of our
character and will only realize that we became a virtuous person effortlessly.
Despite of the attractiveness that this theory offers, there are still some flaws within this.
Humans, undeniably still need guidelines on what to do as normative ethics suggests and for me
relying alone on other people’s action is somehow inadequate and a bit risky. As what this theory is
about, doing what virtuous people do, what if that “virtuous” person lack of good reasoning like
being flawed or immoral? The action will undeniably be arbitrary and this obviously isn’t a good
standard of morality. And let’s say Aristotle is right regarding our desire for virtuous life but we
can’t actually assume that everyone will really strive for that desire knowing that some may not
even want to develop moral virtues. Another thing is, compared to utilitarianism and other theories,
they provided logical accounts for how to decide in a given situation and how these decisions can be
justified, virtue ethics theory doesn’t provide a clear decision model which makes it hard to tell if
someone’s decision will be justified or has been justified. Overall my main critique on this theory
is, it is a self-centered conception of ethics because human flourishing is seen as an end itself and
does not sufficiently consider the extent to which our actions affect other people.
With these flaws, is this theory still a relevant theory to address the moral issues of the 21 st
century? I say no because the moral issues that the 21 st century facing is not just about one’s issue
regarding to his eudaimonia, but rather more on societal issues that needs to be addressed with the
kind of theory that will guide people into choosing actions guided by clear principles and able to
determine if the specific decision or action that has been made can be justified. We are dealing with
huge issues that includes the rights of people, rapid increasing of health and economic problems,
religion and conservative intervention, how can we resolve moral issues like these if the theory that
we are going to use lacks guiding principle and determinacy and solely focus on attaining one self’s
eudaimonia? To address modern issues, what this society need is the kind of theory that will make
its people understand the situation, guide them into choosing the right thing to do by thinking how
other people will be affected by the outcome, and lastly will let everyone achieve their rights.