Fluent Essays

1.) Answer the questions in one of the Ethical Dilemmas at the end of one of the chapters, 7 or 8. In your answers, you need to reference virtue ethics and/or ethics of care and show your understanding. Explain how the theories relate to the cases and discuss whether they match with your own morality. This is the question below. Suppose your best friend is in the hospital battling a serious illness and would deeply appreciate a visit from you. But you are also on spring break and, after a very stressful semester, need to forget about all your commitments and just relax. What might the ethics of care have you do? What is a utilitarian likely to do? 2.) Considering your own personal life and your interactions with people around you, discuss how the virtues or the ethics of care would be relevant to the decisions you make to guide how you behave towards those people. At least 400 words. Need to be done at 6:00pm EST. 4 hours. Serious inquires. Chapter 8 Feminist Ethics and the Ethics of Care Copyright © 2019 W. W. Norton & Company Feminist Ethics – 1 An alternative way of looking at the concepts and concerns of the moral life An approach focused on women’s interests and experiences and devoted to promoting the moral equality of men and women A response to theories of ethics that have emphasized those characteristics believed to be distinctive to men and ignored or rejected ways of thinking and feeling believed to be distinctive of women Discussion Question: How do you think the possession or lack of power might affect one’s theory of ethics? ‹#› Feminist Ethics – 2 An approach that takes into account moral issues that are more likely to arise from the experiences of women Traditional moral philosophy’s devaluation of the domestic realm made it impossible to raise questions about the domestic division of labor or domestic abuse. ‹#› General Traits of Feminist Ethics – 1 An emphasis on personal relationships Traditional moral theories have been mostly concerned with “public life,” the realm in which unrelated individuals try to figure out how to behave toward one another. Feminist ethics narrows down the area of moral concern to the interconnected and familiar small group—to the people with whom we have close personal relationships. Discussion Questions: How much should our ethics be influenced by the recognition that we all have personal relationships that are messy, filled with emotion, and partial? Would we be more moral if we rejected all personal relationships? ‹#› General Traits of Feminist Ethics – 2 Differing views on moral principles Some feminist philosophers resist the temptation to map out moral actions according to moral principles. They argue that such principles are too general to be useful in the complicated arena of the domestic, social, and personal. Discussion Question: How does feminist ethics’ regard for moral principles compare with Kant’s view? ‹#› General Traits of Feminist Ethics – 3 Contrasting attitudes toward impartiality Impartiality says that from the moral point of view, all persons are considered equal and should be treated accordingly; but in the domestic sphere, we are anything but impartial. Some feminists make our moral duties to the people we care about central to their moral outlook. Discussion Question: Do you believe there are situations in which impartiality is important in moral reasoning? If not, why not? ‹#› General Traits of Feminist Ethics – 4 A higher regard for emotions Feminist philosophers have greater respect for the emotional side of our lives than many non-feminist ethicists do. Discussion Question: What part do you think emotions should play in morality? ‹#› General Traits of Feminist Ethics – 5 An emphasis on the nonideal Feminist ethicists take issue with the tendency of traditional moral theories to assume an idealized view of human beings. Many feminist ethicists acknowledge that real life is messy and involves humans who are often irrational, and they appreciate the value of these nonideal aspects to life.   ‹#› The Ethics of Care – 1 Emphasizes close personal relationships and moral virtues such as compassion, faithfulness, kindness, love, and sympathy Contrasts with traditional moral theories preoccupied with principles and legalistic reasoning Discussion question: Can one emphasize love and sympathy and still hold to utilitarianism? Kant’s duty ethics? Virtue ethics? Why or why not? ‹#› The Ethics of Care – 2 Originates from the contrast between: Traditionally male “ethic of justice” Traditionally female “ethic of care” The argument is that both justice and care, which are not inherently linked to gender, are needed.  Discussion question: How do you think justice and care relate to each other? Can you think of a situation in which they complement each other? What about one in which they conflict? ‹#› The Ethics of Care – 3 An ethic of care concerns itself with the experiences of being dependent and the morality of relating to dependents. A morality built on the image of the independent, autonomous, rational individual often overlooks the extensive human experience of dependence. Discussion Questions: Does an ethic of justice suffice when talking of a parent caring for a child? Does an ethic of care suffice when talking of two independent strangers interacting in a business transaction? Which situation is most important to who we are as humans? ‹#› Credits This concludes the PowerPoint slide set for Chapter 8 Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues Fifth Edition (2019) by Lewis Vaughn. Copyright © 2019 W. W. Norton & Company Chapter 7 Virtue Ethics: Be a Good Person Copyright © 2019 W. W. Norton & Company Virtue Ethics Both consequentialist and nonconsequentialist moral theories are concerned with action and attempt to answer the question “What should I do?”   Virtue ethics is a theory of morality that makes virtue the central concern.   Virtue ethics attempts to answer the question “What should I be?” Discussion Question: How could a utilitarian (who asks, “What should I do?”) incorporate virtues (that ask, “What should I be?”) into his theory without doing violence to the principle of utility? ‹#› Aristotle’s Ethics – 1 Almost all modern virtue ethicists trace their theoretical roots back to Aristotle. His ethics consists not in following moral rules that stipulate right actions but in striving to be a particular kind of person—a virtuous person whose actions stem naturally from virtuous character.   Discussion Questions: How does Kants idea of duty differ from Aristotles conception of virtue? Which do you find more compelling? ‹#› Aristotle’s Ethics – 2 For Aristotle, every living thing has an end toward which it naturally aims, the thing that represents its greatest good. The greatest good for humans—their true goal—is eudaimonia, which means “happiness” or “flourishing” and refers to the true realization of the good life. Discussion Question: Does your life have a chief end (a state or point of great value) toward which you strive? ‹#› Eudaimonia To achieve eudaimonia, human beings must fulfill the function that is natural and distinctive to them: living fully in accordance with reason. The life of reason entails a life of virtue because the virtues themselves are rational modes of being. Discussion Question: According to Aristotle, the virtuous life both helps us to achieve happiness and is happiness. What does this mean? ‹#› Virtues To Aristotle, a virtue is a stable disposition to act and feel according to some ideal or model of existence. It is a deeply embedded character trait that can affect actions in countless situations. Aristotle distinguishes between intellectual and moral virtues.     Intellectual Virtues Moral Virtues Wisdom Fairness Prudence Benevolence Rationality Honesty Loyalty Conscientiousness Courage Discussion Questions: Can virtues be acquired over time? Must we be born with virtues in order to have them? If they can be acquired, how should this be done? Is a lecture on virtues helpful? ‹#› The Golden Mean – 1 Moral virtues occupy what Aristotle calls the “Golden Mean”—a balance between two behavioral extremes. For example, a moral virtue such as courage is the midpoint between the extremes of recklessness, on one side, and cowardice, on the other. Discussion Question: Are all virtues a balance between two behavioral extremes? ‹#› The Golden Mean – 2 For Aristotle, the Golden Mean expresses a fundamental truth: the virtuous—and happy—life is a life of moderation in all things. Discussion Question: What persons in the past or in the present day seem to live their lives according to Aristotle’s notion of moral virtues? ‹#› Modern Virtue Ethics Contemporary virtue ethicists agree with Aristotle on these points: The cultivation of virtues is not only a moral requirement but also a way to ensure human flourishing and a good life. A fully developed ethics must take into account motives, feelings, intentions, and moral wisdom. Acting only out of duty is a barren and one-dimensional approach to living a virtuous life. Discussion Question: Which of these points do you agree or disagree with? Why? ‹#› Evaluating Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics seems to meet the minimum requirements of coherence. It seems consistent with our considered moral judgments (Criterion 1) and with our moral experiences (Criterion 2). The main critique of virtue ethics centers on Criterion 3: the usefulness of the theory in moral problem solving. Discussion Question: What is the fundamental difference between virtue ethics and utilitarianism? ‹#› The Usefulness of Virtue Ethics – 1 According to virtue ethics, when faced with a moral dilemma, we should do what a virtuous person would do.   But how do we determine this?   The right action is the one performed by the virtuous person, and the virtuous person is the one who performs the virtuous action. However, this is circular reasoning. Discussion Question: Is it possible to coherently combine both virtues and principles of duty in the same moral theory? If so, how? ‹#› The Usefulness of Virtue Ethics – 2 Another problem is the possible conflict of virtues in a particular context. Loyalty, for example, may conflict with honesty when the fate of a friend is on the line and your testimony will make the difference between life and death.   How do you choose between being loyal and being honest in this case? Discussion Questions: Does morality require both virtues and principles of duty? Do we always look to moral exemplars or specific virtues to determine what to do? Explain. ‹#› Learning from Virtue Ethics Regardless of its value as a stand-alone theory of ethics, virtue ethics forces us to acknowledge that virtue and character are large, unavoidable constituents of our moral experience. Virtue ethics has forced many thinkers to reexamine the place of principles in morality. Discussion Question: Would a moral theory that ignores either virtues or principles of moral action be an adequate moral theory? Why or why not? ‹#› Credits This concludes the PowerPoint slide set for Chapter 7 Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues Fifth Edition (2019) by Lewis Vaughn. Copyright © 2019 W. W. Norton & Company