1. 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 for a person to perform good acts. I think people who do good things make things better. Now I didn’t say people who do good things ARE good people. That is because you don’t have to be a good person to do good things. Personally, I’d rather be a friend with a crook that does charity work and other good deeds than a person with good virtues but stays inside their home and never does anything in the world. So for example just because a person goes to church every single Sunday doesn’t guarantee that they are a good person. My answer might change if we were to look at for example in a monastery. There are monks and nuns, some of the most religious and good people in the world and because of their faith all monks and nuns are good people. They do all sorts of charity work and good deeds.

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

I do not think the ends justify the means. When I think of means ethics, I think of the process, and included in this is intention. One good example is a lumber company cutting down trees. Now obviously lumber companies all want to make money from trees chopped down, but they could take additional steps to help the environment. If a lumber company’s intention is just to make money, when chopping down trees they may destroy a forest. Whereas if a company does care about the ecosystem in a forest they may plant more trees than they chop down, making sure not destroy the ecosystem. A circumstance where ends might justify the means is in war/battle. To stay alive and to win a fight some nasty and dark things may need to be done. However, your survival is all you care about not so much as to how you stay alive.

4. Do ecosystems matter for their own sake, or do they only matter to the extent that they impact humans (ecocentric ethics vs. anthropocentric ethics)?

I think that ecosystems only matter to the extent that they impact humans. Whenever I hear people talk about the ecosystem there tends to be some correlation with global warming. Global warming is a problem for the world, but people only care about global warming because they’re scared about what’s going to happen to them rather than what’s going to happen to certain plants and animals. I am not filled with cynicism rather I just think it’s the truth and people are too scared to admit it. Ecosystem’s are only seen as tools, good and valuable natural resources. On the contrary, ecosystems may matter for their own sake if scientists discover how to live perfectly symbiotically with the ecosystem and earth. People would have to start looking at the ecosystem almost as like another limb. The ecosystem will be a part of everyone and everything and so the ecosystem may matter for their own sake and humans. Not just humans.