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

At first when I went to answer this question, I couldn’t quite make up my mind. I thought it would be an easy question to answer, but it turns out that it took me a while to debate both sides. After thinking about it and going back and forth for a little while, I decided that I believe it is more important to be a good person. To me, being an overall good person means being considerate and kind to others. It doesn’t mean you have pleasant 24/7 or perfect. People make mistakes, but it’s what they do after the mistake that matters. If you are a good person, you will naturally perform good acts out of the kindness of your heart. However, a “bad” person can perform good acts, whether it may be to make themselves look good or some other reason that will benefit them. I can think of a few people that I know that do plenty of kind, good acts, but at the end of the day, they still are not that great of a person. In closing, I do believe that being a good person is more important than performing good acts.

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

It’s definitely easy to say that one’s own life is more valuable than someone else’s. It’s easy to put ourselves first and do what’s best for us and we see that happening all of the time. For example, if we are late for work, we might cut someone off and speed by to ensure that we get to our destination on time. If we are hungry, we might secretly cut the food line so we get our food first. The list of examples could go on and on. People definitely put themselves first at times when their situation seems more important than others. In reality though, no one’s situation should be valued as more important or less important because it all matters to each individual person. The same goes for someone’s life. Every person on this earth matters. Every person is a mother, father, daughter, son, brother, sister, friend, etc., to somebody. Each and every person is loved by someone and is that person’s world. With that being said, I absolutely do not view my life as worth more than others. I simply view all lives as equal.

Do the ends justify the means (ends ethics vs. means ethics)?

In my personal opinion, the ends do not justify the means. People can achieve great things and create huge fortunes for themselves and others. However, if they got in that position through unfair methods, it does not make it okay and I don’t view it as a success. I like to think of a successful, but deceitful lawyer for this situation. He may be doing well and be able to buy his family everything under the sun and look like the picture perfect family from the outside. But if he is doing so by stealing money from other sources and lying and cheating others out of their money, his “success” means nothing. To be truly successful and accomplish whatever it is you wish to achieve, it should be done fairly and honestly. To me, if the end result is achieved properly, then the means should be something to be proud of in themselves.