Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?
I think it is more important to be a good person than to perform good acts. I think if somebody is truly a good person, their natural intuition would be to do good acts. Somebody who does good acts might not have the right intentions behind that act. They might only be doing it for attention, or for some anthropocentric reason. Virtue is greater than action because virtue ethics determine what we should be and it is better if a person is doing an action genuinely because they are a good person, not just because they feel like they should or have to – it is more important to be a good person than to simply do good things. To be a good person means that someone is performing things due to his or her moral values. Like the module states however, actions and virtues can go hand in hand, and in order to be a good person, you have to perform good actions and vice versa. Like Aristotle once said, the origin of action is choice and that of choice is desire. Good actions begin with who we are, which is why I feel it is more important to be a good person.
Do the ends justify the means (ends ethics vs. means ethics)?
I do not believe that the ends justify the means, because no matter how good of an intention a person has, this intention cannot justify actions that are immoral and unethical. Though there can be a right way of doing things that has a positive payoff in the end without committing evil acts, this is only one instance of when the ends could possibly justify the means, but there are too many evil actions that could be taken with good intentions that hinders this claim. The more important thing is the action itself, not the consequences, because even if the consequences yield something good, if the actions were bad, the entirety of the situation is a bad situation. This reminds me of something Hitler would have said to justify his actions – murdering millions of Jewish people to achieve the end goal of “unifying” Germany. These morally wrong actions were not necessary in order to achieve what Hitler believed to be a morally right outcome. By saying that the ends justify the mean, Hitler could say his actions were morally right because of the virtue of the morality of his outcome – which was a unified Germany. This is why I do not believe that the ends justify the means.
Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?
I believe that my own life is worth the same as others. This belief stems from attendance at a Catholic school for my entire life outside of college. Here, I was taught to believe that everybody is made is the same image and likeness. Though this is not the common belief of everybody, I see that we are all made of the same DNA and there is nothing that sets anybody apart than physical appearance, because inside we are all the same, which is why all lives matters. However, if it came down to it, I would sacrifice my lives for somebody else because I believe in altruism and putting others before yourself. However, the life I would have sacrificed would have had the same value and worth as the one I saved. I also believe it is responsible to take care of my own life, but also to take care of others in the same way – following the belief to treat others as the way I would like to be treated. When looking at equality, I find it important for everybody to see that they are important individuals with the same dignity and right as others.
2 thoughts on “Ethic Views”
Hi Dorish!
My name is Adriana and I really love how you view everyone’s life with the same worth as yours I think that is very selfless and amazing! In my entry I talked about how I believe everyone’s life has worth, but people tend to see children or mothers as more worthy than an adult who maybe has no family to care for. Or how people tend to sacrifice more for their family than they would for a stranger. What are your thoughts on this?
Link to my entry: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/03/adrianas-ethics-views/
Across the three ethics question, your responses were quite thoughtful and honest with good reasoning too. (one can never go wrong when quoting Aristotle!) Compared to my response for the first one, I likewise agree that being a good person is important. However, I approached it from the aspect of “show me proof of someone being good” and that is why I think good deeds are to be more valuable than someone’s good intentions. As it says in the new testament, God looks at the fruit of our lives or “actions” to see if our good intentions are actually bearing out. Likewise for the second ethics question, the ends shouldn’t come before the means because as you stated, it may not be beneficial to humanity sometimes. Lastly, I appreciate your honesty on the sixth question.
Hi Dorish!
My name is Adriana and I really love how you view everyone’s life with the same worth as yours I think that is very selfless and amazing! In my entry I talked about how I believe everyone’s life has worth, but people tend to see children or mothers as more worthy than an adult who maybe has no family to care for. Or how people tend to sacrifice more for their family than they would for a stranger. What are your thoughts on this?
Link to my entry: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/03/adrianas-ethics-views/
Hi Dorish, my name is Gershom Espinoza and attached is my blog piece.http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/03/module-3-gershom-espinoza/
Across the three ethics question, your responses were quite thoughtful and honest with good reasoning too. (one can never go wrong when quoting Aristotle!) Compared to my response for the first one, I likewise agree that being a good person is important. However, I approached it from the aspect of “show me proof of someone being good” and that is why I think good deeds are to be more valuable than someone’s good intentions. As it says in the new testament, God looks at the fruit of our lives or “actions” to see if our good intentions are actually bearing out. Likewise for the second ethics question, the ends shouldn’t come before the means because as you stated, it may not be beneficial to humanity sometimes. Lastly, I appreciate your honesty on the sixth question.