Virtue ethics is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks.

It is the quest to
understand and live a life of moral character.

This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice. By
practicing being honest, brave, just, generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and
moral character. According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will likely make the
right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

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Integrity
Integrity, said author C.S. Lewis, “is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking.”  Integrity is a
foundational moral virtue, and the bedrock upon which good character is built.

Acting with integrity means understanding, accepting, and choosing to live in accordance with one’s
principles, which will include honesty, fairness, and decency. A person of integrity will consistently
demonstrate good character by being free of corruption and hypocrisy.

Integrity is revealed when people act virtuously regardless of circumstance or consequences. This often
requires moral courage. Indeed, integrity is the critical connection between ethics and moral action.

Morse, John DiBenedetto, "Reflection on the "good" as a source of freedom in virtue theory"
(2003). Dissertations (1962 - 2010) Access via Proquest Digital Dissertations.

In communitarian forms of virtue theory, there exists a tension between the influence of the
community on moral development and individual responsibility. Virtue theory emphasizes the role of
character in influencing action. Because of the relationship between character and action, writers in
virtue theory have argued that individual responsibility depends on the ability of the individual to
control the formation of his character, or his ability to change his existing character. But, virtue theory
is at the same time committed to the thesis that the community is involved in the formation of
character, insofar as the institutions of one's community both reinforce behavior and provide a
conception of the good life for which an individual should strive. To this point, arguments in
contemporary virtue theory and theories of responsibility ground freedom in the ability of the individual
to assess his character through reflection in light of a concept of the good life. But, existing arguments
do not address two problems inherent in grounding freedom and responsibility in reflection about
character. One, reflection is an activity that requires a set of skills and character dispositions that are
not innate. The individual must develop character traits like tolerance and humility in order to reflect in
a meaningful manner. Two, reflection about one's character supposes a standard, a theory of the
good life, against which an individual is judging the adequacy of his existing character. Since
communitarian forms of virtue theory argue that the community inculcates in the individual a
conception of the good life, it is necessary to acknowledge the impact of the community in process of
reflection. In this dissertation, I propose that individual responsibility is possible within communitarian
forms of virtue theory. Communities must develop systems of moral education that promote reflective
individuals. Further, an individual must not only evaluate his character in light of a concept of the
good in order to be completely free; rather, he must also evaluate the source of his view of the good
on which his reflection is based in order to be fully free and responsible for his character.
I suppose (or at least hope) that we all want to do the right thing but how do we decide
what the right thing really is? We likely all have at least some vague principles that we
follow to guide our decision making such as being honest, kind to others (or at least
polite), and not stealing. Maybe our ethical principles can be well summarized by the
Golden Rule (i.e., treat others as you wish to be treated). It sounds pretty good and
reasonable too.