Analysis Of Aristotle's Virtue Ethics

In this essay I will argue that Aristotle’s virtue ethics, while ideally a good ethical theory, could never be put into practice on a global scale. I will establish this point by appealing to human nature and outlining some of the points in Aristotle’s argument that are not conducive to a global ethical view. In order to accomplish this, first let’s define Aristotle’s virtue ethic. Aristotle’s virtue ethics holds that one should act as a “virtuous person would act in your situation (Athanassoulis).” What is a virtuous person one might ask? Aristotle declared that a virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits. These traits come about through natural processes, but need to be nurtured in youth to realize their full potential. Once …show more content…
Specifically, utilitarianism is an ethical theory that, generally speaking, believes the only way to judge actions is by their effects on society (“the needs of the many out weight the needs of the few”-Dr. Spock). Deontology on the other hand judges actions based on their adherence to the rules in place. To illustrate this point, imagine a standing on a catwalk above a set of train tracks. Next to you is large man looking at the tracks. A little way away from you there is a pavilion with a crowd of 4 or 5 people standing on it. You hear a loud noise and look down the tracks to notice a train speeding down the tracks. The train is having obvious problems and it is clear that if it continues down the tracks it will hit and kill the crowd of people. Looking around for a way to stop this disaster you realize that if you push the man next to you on to the tracks the train will derail when it hits him and save the crowd of people down the track. Do you push the man? Before analyzing this situation from a utilitarian, deontological, and virtue ethics stand point it is important to note that I am making the assumption that this scenario is taking place in a modern (2016) United …show more content…
Simply put, utilitarianism encourages actions that benefit the greater good. Applied to the example above, a utilitarian should push the man because it is in the interest of the greater good, in this case the crowd of people being saved from the train. While the greater good is served by sacrificing here, utilitarianism does not take into consideration the opinions of the people being saved. For example, the people may be happy to be saved, however they may view the choice to sacrifice a man to save them as deplorable, because it wasn’t the man’s