Question 1: Is it more important to be a good person or to perform good acts (virtue ethics vs. action ethics)?  In my opinion, I think that both of these ideas go hand-in-hand. Just like the lesson said, most of the time a good person performs good acts. I also believe that in general a bad person isn’t going to perform good acts. However, I believe that ultimately it is more important to perform good acts. I’ve experienced many times where a good person can commit bad acts. In life everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect, whether you’re a good or bad person. For example, I’d like to think of myself as a generally good person but there have been times I’ve done things that aren’t necessarily good. I also believe that actions speak louder than words. You can portray yourself as a good person all you want but in the end your specific actions really determine everything.

Question 6: Is my own life worth more than the lives of others, the same, or less (selfishness vs. altruism)? I’d like to believe that my life is just as equal as someone else’s. For example, the people in my life that I love and care for (my friends and family), I would do anything for them and value their lives just as much as my own. I’ll admit that sometimes I can be selfish and do things that are mostly beneficial to myself but I would never value my own life over someone else’s. I believe that in some cases selfishness is inevitable and everyone is going to act that way in some point in their life. I think it’s a shame that there are so many cases in this world where other people’s lives are seen as less worthy because of things like gender, race, sexuality, religious beliefs, etc. In my mind we were all put on this earth for the same reason and no one should be treated poorly for being different.

Question 5: Do the pleasure and pain of non-human animals matter as much as the pleasure and pain of humans (speciesism)? I think this is a hard question to answer because it’s not something that I think about often. It’s so easy to get caught up in your own life to even think about the please and pain of non-human animals. When thinking about this question, animal abuse is what comes to mind for me. I am so against animal abuse and despise anyone who commits any act that harms an animal, no matter the situation. However, I do believe in killing animals for food. I do eat meat and never think about what the animal went through for me to be able to eat that food. I think that killing animals for food is natural and isn’t morally wrong. However, when it comes to using animals for things like animal testing I believe there can be a strong debate against it. I agree that non-human animals have pleasure and pain but in my own personal life it’s hard to remember this. After reading through this lesson I want to start considering the concept of speciesism more often in my daily life.