How does Bernard Mayo contrast rule-governed ethics with virtue ethics?
In Ethics and the Moral Life, Bernard Mayo supports the virtue ethics of Aristotle. Instead of focusing on actions and rules, virtue ethics “Centers in the heart and personality of the agent - in his or her character” (Pojman 314). Mayo contrasts deontology and virtue ethics by explaining the difference of “doing” and “being.” Deontology ethics are based on duty, or what a person is doing. Therefore, morality is determined by the question “What should I do?” Mayo believes that this type of principle excludes human qualities and doesn’t accurately show an account of morality. There is a question that Mayo believes will show an accurate account of morality. “What ought I to be?” Asking this question allows the person …show more content…
When applying this principle “The ethics of character gains a practical simplicity which offsets the greater logical simplicity of the ethics of principles” (Pojman 349). Unlike rules-based ethics “A morality of principles, concerned only with what people do, or fail to do, since that is what rules are for” (Pojman 346), virtue ethics are based on an actual part of a person’s character; determines what they will do. Virtue ethics are simple and offer “unity to our answers” (Pojman 349). Our answers are not the only thing that virtue ethics unify. A “unity of character” is formed. “We can say, in answer to our morally perplexed questioner, not only, “Be this,” and “Be that,” but also “Be like So-and So” (Pojman349). Instead of trying to remember a set of rules (that may or may not apply) in certain cases, it may be better to consider what someone else would do. Looking
In Ethics and the Moral Life, Bernard Mayo supports the virtue ethics of Aristotle. Instead of focusing on actions and rules, virtue ethics “Centers in the heart and personality of the agent - in his or her character” (Pojman 314). Mayo contrasts deontology and virtue ethics by explaining the difference of “doing” and “being.” Deontology ethics are based on duty, or what a person is doing. Therefore, morality is determined by the question “What should I do?” Mayo believes that this type of principle excludes human qualities and doesn’t accurately show an account of morality. There is a question that Mayo believes will show an accurate account of morality. “What ought I to be?” Asking this question allows the person …show more content…
When applying this principle “The ethics of character gains a practical simplicity which offsets the greater logical simplicity of the ethics of principles” (Pojman 349). Unlike rules-based ethics “A morality of principles, concerned only with what people do, or fail to do, since that is what rules are for” (Pojman 346), virtue ethics are based on an actual part of a person’s character; determines what they will do. Virtue ethics are simple and offer “unity to our answers” (Pojman 349). Our answers are not the only thing that virtue ethics unify. A “unity of character” is formed. “We can say, in answer to our morally perplexed questioner, not only, “Be this,” and “Be that,” but also “Be like So-and So” (Pojman349). Instead of trying to remember a set of rules (that may or may not apply) in certain cases, it may be better to consider what someone else would do. Looking