He believed in universalizability which means what is right or wrong for one person in a situation is right or wrong for everyone. He feels positively towards human nature and believes that everyone is a good person so can empathise with others. Another important utilitarian was Henry Sidgwick. He felt that moral actions are not judged by their consequences but also how they benefit the welfare of people. This just means that the act is correct as long as it brings happiness to the greatest amount of people.
“What is the highest of all goods? It is happiness.” The great Greek philosopher Aristotle developed the normative ethical theory of Virtue Ethics and here argues that happiness is the highest good and what we should all strive to achieve. This theory focuses on the kind of person we should become rather than the actions we should do or avoid and is therefore aretaic. Aretai’ from the Greek essentially means virtue, and this is the heart of Virtue Ethics; that people should concentrate on practicing excellence and being virtuous in order to reach happiness, which is the highest goodness according to Aristotle. Morality is not simply about avoiding the wrong, but is also about doing what is virtuous.
Aristotle also suggests happiness conforms to goodness of virtue (Kucukuysal and Beyhan, 2011). To be happy and good, one must make the right choices. Virtue is taught and learned. The ability to define happiness and decide what is virtuous is an individual choice based upon life teachings and experience. In order to make someone else happy, you must be happy with yourself.
Answer Key 1. In the opening paragraph, Bertrand Russell says, “The happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as the good life.” What does he mean? Is this statement paradoxical? He means that by being a good person, doing good for other people and trying to make other people happy, you will also be happy. This statement is not paradoxical because we do not have to sacrifice ourselves to help others.
'The weaknesses of Virtue Ethics outweigh its strengths.' Discuss. Virtue ethics derives from Plato and Aristotle and does not focus on actions being right or wrong, but instead of how to be a good person and the character of a person. It looks at what makes a person good and the qualities (or virtues) that make a person good. Virtue ethics is agent-centred ethics rather than act-centred; it asks ‘What sort of person ought I to be?’ rather than ‘How ought I to act?’ The Aristotelian approach shows to give an account of the structure of morality and explained that the point of enrolling in ethics is to become good: ‘For we are enquiring not in order to know what virtue is but in order to become good since otherwise our enquiry would be of no use.’ (Nichomachean Ethics, Book 1, ch.
I believe that if there is a God and He is great and loves us, then He would want us to think of others and volunteer and those type of things more than worshipping how amazing He is. That sounds very selfish to me. So this is why you should do what you think is right and not because someone tells you its right. Because if someone tells you something is right, they can still be wrong. No one can decide what is right or wrong except yourself.
Venesha Meza SP3445 11/21/2012 Week 9 HW “Altruism and Pro-social behavior” Altruism is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. Pro-social behavior refers to any action that benefits other people, no matter what the motive or how the giver benefits from the action. Altruism involves true selflessness. While all altruisms acts are pro-social, not all pro-social behaviors are altruistic. For example, we might help others for a variety of reasons such as guilt, obligation, and duty or even for rewards.
Obtaining Eudaemonia Through Arete: Aristotle’s Account on the Virtue of Character In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle determines that happiness is the ultimate human good. Defined as excellence in rational activity, happiness is “a certain sort of activity of the soul in accord with complete virtue” (1102a5). Because he asserts that virtues control happiness, Aristotle provides a thorough account of virtue in order to understand how one must secure happiness. While virtues of thought are important, virtues of character are of significant value for they are the states of human beings that ultimately allow for the attainment of happiness. In his presentation of virtue of character, Aristotle illustrates how they’re acquired, what they consist in and considers whether they are voluntary.
Notes from a Small Island What is happiness? Aristotle defines happiness as the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. Happiness has many different interpretations, definitions, and philosophies. Happiness does not have to be complicated, in all reality, it is simple to understand. Happiness is emotions we try to find by doing things that make us feel good.
For utilitarian school of thought, an individual strives to do the most good, even at the expense of the minority. Utilitarianism and Kantianism find the basis of their differences in the idea that the ends justify the means. Utilitarian beliefs support this idea while Kantian philosophy rejects this. Modern ethics were devised from these two basic ethical beliefs in an attempt to combine the best aspects. Generally, the morally “right” action benefits the majority while affecting the fewest amount in a negative way.