- Published: January 18, 2022
- Updated: January 18, 2022
- University / College: Oklahoma State University
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 13
Due Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics is a subset of moral philosophy. The concept of morality as it is understood today is a product of a lot of philosophical thinking. Philosophy was the first to prescribe morality. Religion (Judaism and Christianity) and renaissance came a bit later and augmented the moral philosophies to result in what moral thought entails today. Great philosophers such as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato had their propositions about what morality entails. Aristotle asked, “ What is the good of man?”, whereas Socrates, Plato and others asked, “ what traits of character make one a good man?” According to Christianity, morality is divine command; the fact of applying reason in identifying what’s moral and what isn’t.
Jesus was on different occasions asked if there was a particular right way of doing things, like the proper method of worship, or what to do to gain eternal life. In His responses to all such questions, Jesus said there were no specific ways of doing things right; that there were not set of rules or laws. Renaissance came up with moral law, which is what determined the right or wrong thing to do. Many later day philosophers, such as Anscombe (1958), have disagreed with the renaissance view, insisting there shouldn’t be any law because, in any case, there can’t be a law without a lawgiver.
Virtues are defined by Aristotle as character traits manifested in habitual action. He says no virtue exists in the extremes. Rather, virtue comes in between the two extremes. For instance, courage comes in between cowardice and foolhardiness. In both Christianity and philosophy, virtue ethics is not dictated by any set of laws. In both cases, virtue ethics is not in what one does or their action, but rather lies in their character.