The study of ethics is a crucial part of philosophical analysis. This philosophical area is critical in providing insight on how to properly practice morality, and what exactly it means to be a moral person. Individuals are faced with ethical dilemmas on a daily basis, as they are the foundation for how we behave and respond in certain situations. As with almost every other philosophical topic, there are a wide variety of different theories relating to ethics. Each of these theories, while dealing with the similar topic of ethics, understands ethics in a different perspective, where ethical behavior is driven by different motivators and deals with different factors. While some of the same factors may in some way be involved in multiple philosophical
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Virtue never causes individuals to react to a situation inappropriately or without the proper motivation. Last, virtues must never be too passionate in regard to their alignment, but rather must always be in the middle of an issue. For example, courage is a virtue, but cowardice and rashness are not because they are both extremes dealing with fear (CITE). Another integral aspect of virtue ethics is the idea that everything is done in an attempt to aim for the highest good:
“Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (CITE).
While the end result may be different given individual circumstances, every action is meant to achieve good. The last aspect of virtue ethics involves happiness. For Aristotle, happiness is linked closely to good. Aristotle referred to the ultimate good as “eudaimonia,” which is also understood as happiness (CITE). Aristotle believed that “genuine happiness lies in action that leads to virtue,” and as such happiness is achieved when individuals are aiming at good through the use of virtuous action …show more content…
The former represent the practical necessity of a possible action as means to something else that is willed… The categorical imperative would be that which represented an action as necessary of itself without reference to another end, i.e., as objectively necessary…If now the action is good only as a means to something else, then the imperative is hypothetical; if it is conceived as good in itself and consequently as being necessarily the principle of a will which of itself conforms to reason, then it is categorical…Accordingly the hypothetical imperative only says that the action is good for some purpose, possible or actual…”
Virtue never causes individuals to react to a situation inappropriately or without the proper motivation. Last, virtues must never be too passionate in regard to their alignment, but rather must always be in the middle of an issue. For example, courage is a virtue, but cowardice and rashness are not because they are both extremes dealing with fear (CITE). Another integral aspect of virtue ethics is the idea that everything is done in an attempt to aim for the highest good:
“Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (CITE).
While the end result may be different given individual circumstances, every action is meant to achieve good. The last aspect of virtue ethics involves happiness. For Aristotle, happiness is linked closely to good. Aristotle referred to the ultimate good as “eudaimonia,” which is also understood as happiness (CITE). Aristotle believed that “genuine happiness lies in action that leads to virtue,” and as such happiness is achieved when individuals are aiming at good through the use of virtuous action …show more content…
The former represent the practical necessity of a possible action as means to something else that is willed… The categorical imperative would be that which represented an action as necessary of itself without reference to another end, i.e., as objectively necessary…If now the action is good only as a means to something else, then the imperative is hypothetical; if it is conceived as good in itself and consequently as being necessarily the principle of a will which of itself conforms to reason, then it is categorical…Accordingly the hypothetical imperative only says that the action is good for some purpose, possible or actual…”