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

I believe action ethics/ good acts, is definitely more important than virtue ethics because according to me, a good person has well defined personality traits and never does harm to others. However, anyone can fake personality, but their actions define what kind of person they are. I think, a good person is one who makes all the promises but good acts decide whether the person is capable of fulfilling the promises or not. It is said people judge you by your actions and not your intentions. For example : Coming from India, there was an unmarried woman who lived in my neighbourhood. She lived alone and never got along with anyone in the neighbourhood. She was a busy working woman, working hard to earn her living. People in the society, as she didn’t interact with them kept gossiping about her, saying she is very self-centred. But one day, a poor man got in trouble and as caste system prevails in India, he was from a lower caste and nobody was ready to help him except her. That day her actions made her respectful in everyone’s eyes, even higher than most of the respectable people in the neighbourhood. Also, in this case, I am too confident about my opinion that I highly doubt that any difference in circumstances; periods or places will change it.

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

Yes, the process by which decisions are made matter more than the outcomes of these decisions because, if the process is right the outcome will automatically become right. Normally, in real life, before making a decision we examine every situation that makes us take a decision, as well as we consider every little detail that the decision will affect in future. After understanding these points we jump to a conclusion of whether the decision is right or not, so that we don’t regret the decision in future. Therefore, in procedural justice we can expect a good outcome or we are satisfied with the decision rather than being random and regretting later. Also, no one in this world has seen the future, so no one can tell whether the decision outcome will be good or bad, but going through a process to make it happen can give us a peace of mind and can raise our expectations for a good outcome.

6. Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)?

No my life is not worth more than the lives of others. But being honest and selfish, most of the time that “others” include the people I love. Personally speaking, I’m not an emotional person so it is hard for me to gather myself around emotions and give someone else more worth than myself. According to me, if I was ever put in a situation to decide, lives of my family and friends would come before mine, but lives of strangers would be worth same as mine. So I am not sure if I’ll be selfish with strangers or selfless with them, it can change depending on different circumstances, periods, or places. For example if that stranger is a child or someone younger than me or someone older than me, but has his/her whole family dependent on them, then without a doubt I’ll be selfless with them and will be willing to give up my life for them. However, if that individual is a criminal or someone who is good for nothing then I’ll be selfish and put myself before them.