Culture and Ethics Resource Centre – Definitions
The Virtue approach to ethics is different from other frameworks as it is not focussed on the process we use i.e. Duty of Care and Kantianism, or the outcome we achieve i.e. Egoism and Utilitarianism; rather it is based on the virtuousness of the person who performs the act.
Virtues are generally features which we see in people who we think are morally good. Going further, we might say that virtues are the features people display when they are trying to increase the wellbeing of society. Based on this thinking we might identify as virtuous characteristics: honesty, compassion, courage, benevolence and integrity, to name a few.
On the flip side, characteristics which damage the wellbeing of society i.e. dishonesty, selfishness, lack of integrity etc, could be seen as unvirtuous.
So if a person is virtuous and acts accordingly, their action or behaviour is ethical i.e. we could say to be compassionate is to be moral; to be honest is to be moral; to display courage is to be moral.
It should be noted though that virtuousness is not something we’re born with, it is something we develop over time.
Interestingly, there’s nothing to say that the result of acting this way will necessarily be any different to the process/duty and outcome approaches to ethics, the big difference is how we determine whether something is ethical.
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