Virtue ethics theory emphasizes an individual’s virtues as the most critical factor during ethical thinking and acting. Virtue ethics was developed by Greek philosopher Aristotle who disagreed with other explanations of morality like Consequentialism and Deontology. The fundamental question in ethics is how people should act and the reasoning behind a particular action. Usually, people work differently while under similar circumstances, and this is the purpose of ethical theories, as they explain why we act in a particular manner.
Virtue ethics theorists believe that the virtues possessed by a person guide them to act in a particular manner in all actions. They argue that people tend to act in a way that leads to happiness, which is the highest human good, according to Aristotle, the father of virtual ethics. Before a person acts, he or she examines if the activity will result in happiness, and if not, then they ignore the actions. Virtues always enable people to gain happiness. Aristotle distinguishes virtual happiness as the one that has no evil associated with it, complete and sufficient.
Virtues are attitudes that are developed through learning and practice. From childhood, children learn virtues from their parents and other adults around them. In most instances, children imitate what people around them do. As a result, they are likely to acquire and start practicing the virtues. For example, a child brought up in a family that values honesty and kindness will develop the characters of being honest and kind as he will believe they lead to happiness or satisfaction. This explains why virtues vary from one person to another. For instance, Peter can be kind, honest, and generous, while others possess other virtues. Aristotle and other virtue ethics theorists supported that characters are frequent, and thus when they are acquired, they become part of the person. To conclude, a person has developed the virtue of generosity, and he or she must have shown the character of being generous in all circumstances.
Virtual ethics theory suggests that the best way to create a good society is helping its members to be good people and not use laws or punishments to deter people from committing wrong actions. Virtual ethics argues virtual people are more likely to make ethical decisions because specific rules do not guide them but because virtues are morals that a person lives with. For instance, according to virtual ethics, an honest person will always tell the truth even when it hurts because of the character in him. Both Deontology and Consequentialism will have different reasoning for the same behavior. Consequentialism ethics theorists will base their decision and action on the consequences of telling the truth. If the truth is likely to hurt the other person significantly, then would reason to cheat. On the other hand, Deontology theorists would specifically tell the truth not because they are willing, but because rules state that cheating is wrong. As observed in the above example, virtual ethics shows people are readily willing to engage in an activity because it is virtual without examining its consequences.
In some instances, virtues are the essential aspects when making decisions, especially when there are little consequences or rules concerning an issue. In this case, performing the work for the client would much support my project of saving for my first home. In accepting to do the job, nothing would affect my workplace because first, I will be doing it at evening, which is not working hours and second, the client has promised that the deal is between him and I. Thus the company would never know that I took an activity behind their back.
According to virtue ethics, the characters or virtues possessed by an individual would determine the decision that a person would make. Honesty is a virtual that requires a person always to do the right thing regardless of the situation. Since childhood, I have always learned to be honest, even when I am going to gain anything. Additionally, honesty is highly valued in society and also in the workplace. As a result, I have learned and practice honesty so to maintain personal happiness.
There are several decisions that I would make regarding this case. The first option would be telling the client to use the right channels to assign me the job and thus rejecting to deal with him directly. In this case, the right channel would be assigning the job through the company. In this way, I would leave the decision to the client, and nobody in the company would ever know what happened. This is one of the basic principles of the virtue ethic theory. According to the theory, a person should not engage in a virtual act for any gain rather than happiness. In the above decision, I would be concerned about personal satisfaction.
Following virtue ethics, it would be wise to inform the office or company about the issue. The company needs to be aware that you rejected an outside deal. However, a person should not expect any reward from the company for sharing the information. However, I believe it would not be wise to inform the company if the client has agreed to follow the right procedures for the completion of the task. This is because telling the company would destroy the company-client relationship, and I would be blamed for the same. However, the main issue, in this case, is maintaining personal happiness by acting honestly at the expense of taking the work and regret entirely for being dishonest.
One of the significant strengths of virtue ethics is that it has a holistic view of human nature. According to the theory, the reasoning is applied through practical wisdom on how people should act or reason. The approach does not allow factors like emotions to control people’s actions like Kant’s theory. Second, virtue ethics includes the whole of a person’s life. A virtuous person acts in the right way all time, which makes it easy to make decisions. Other theories, like consequentialism, argue that people examine the outcomes of an action, which increases the chances of acting wrongly. Virtue ethics is also associated with criticisms. The first weakness of virtue ethic theory is relativistic. It is impossible to agree on the essential virtues in society, and they differ between people and cultures. For instance, one person’s terrorist is another person’s hero or freedom fighter. This shows that goodness depends on other things and not virtues. Second, the theory is unclear on what should happen when virtues conflict. Some attributes like honesty and loyalty in friendship, mercy, and justice may conflict with each other. Virtue theory does not explain which virtues are superior to others, which complicate during ethical dilemmas.
The virtue ethics theory is an essential theory that explains how we make decisions. I believe virtues help us in our day to day decisions. Virtues should always overrule our choices because they make us happy by reducing the issues of guiltiness in a person’s life. In the future, I believe attributes will help me to make ethical decisions, especially in the workplace. Sometimes we are faced by tempting actions that would benefit us but remain a secret, but virtues remind us that what we intend to do is wrong. However, it is challenging to know what I will do when virtues conflict, and thus I may be required to apply another theory in such an instance.