Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?

I believe it is more important to be a good person than to perform good acts. Virtue ethics emphasizes what we should be, whereas action ethics is what we should do. Although it is very hard to define the two, I think a good person performs good acts on a daily basis. The way they carry themselves, the way they treat others, the way they impact society, etc. are all considered action ethics.. Any given day a person can do one of these good acts but that does not necessarily make them a good person. For example, someone could get away with a bank robbery and then donate some of the money that they stole to a charity. Donations money is a good act but this person is far from a good person. I believe virtue ethics is the way of displaying all of the acts a person has performed throughout the course of their life. Of course sometimes people do not always make the right decision but I think good people learn from their mistakes and show that through the actions in which they perform.

Does the process by which decisions are made matter more than the outcomes of these decisions (procedural justice vs. distributive justice)?

I believe procedural justice is more important than distributive justice. Although it is not directly related to ethics, I think it is very important to look at it from a sports perspective. I have played baseball my whole life and I look compare procedural justice to practice. I played baseball my entire life and I would spent endless hours in the batting cage trying to get better. I would have to fight through struggles, but I would always preserve through it to get better. I view distributive justice to the games itself. On any given day, a person could have a bad game, but that does not define them as a person or as a player. In a real life situation, a person must make decisions on the fly. Say a person had too much to drink and they decide to drive home. Although there is a chance the outcome is positive and make it home safely, they are not thinking about the process and all the negative possibilities there are. I believe in most circumstances the process by which someone follows will most of the time lead to the correct outcome which is why I think it is more important.

Do the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans (speciesism)?

I personally believe that it depends on the animal. I have grown up with a dog my entire life and I feel as though she is a part of my family. If anyone were to hurt or abuse her I think they should face the same consequences as though they hurt or abused a human being. On the other hand, animals in the wild that are needed for food or are threatening to any human being do not matter as much as humans, Deer, cow, pig, etc., are all converted into meat that humans eat. This is very essential for our diet and the amount of food that we have on earth. I also believe that if a human is endangered by an animal they have the right to protect themselves against that animal. I personally have never went fishing or gone hunting in my life because I do not want to disturb these animals but overall I think it is essential to human lifestyle.