Virtue Ethics: Virtue-based ethics theories place much less emphasis on which rules people should follow and instead focus on helping people develop good character traits, such as kindness and generosity. These character traits will, in turn, allow a person to make the correct decisions later on in life. Virtue theorists also emphasize the need for people to learn how to break bad habits of character, like greed or anger. These are called vices and stand in the way of a person becoming good.
If a moral principle is to be accepted, it must be:
1) Prescriptive – formulated as an imperative or command, to emphasize that the proposed action is obligatory.
2) universal – not restricted to a particular group but is applicable to any person in a given situation
3) overriding – should be a primary consideration in action assessment.
4) public – presupposes social interaction
5) practical – must be achievable by an average individual in ordinary circumstances.
One Comment