Essay Sample on Virtue & Ethics: Character Development & Moral Values

Introduction

When I hear about the word "virtue", what comes to my mind is the value and morality. As such, I am made to think that only good people can be virtuous. On the other hand, the word, "ethics" presents the idea concerning good versus evil in my mind. The consideration of the two words together ethics and virtues, therefore, introduces the concept of character development as well as the virtues that an individual should possess to be what they are supposed to be opposed to actions. My beliefs and idea of ethics have been significantly shaped by the behaviours and actions of various individuals. Over time, I have realised that ethics and virtues not only deal with the correctness or wrongness of the individual actions but also provides direction as to kind of characteristics and behaviours that good people seek to achieve.

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In this way, virtue ethics are concerned with the entire life of an individual instead of the actions and episodes (Baer, 2015). I have always believed that the right individual is someone who presents, demonstrate, act and live virtuously. Broadly, these are people who possess and lives the virtues. The value of these two concepts is, therefore justifiable because human beings are more often interested in the assessment of the character of another person than they are in evaluating how good or bad a particular person is (Bleidorn & Denissen, 2015) As such, my belief and idea about ethics and virtues are that helping the members of the society to be useful members is an excellent way to build a good community instead of using the laws and punishments to prevent specific wrong actions. The virtue ethics philosophy must, therefore, provide the suggestion on the minimum set of characteristics needed by particular individuals to be useful (Baer, 2015; Hutchinson, 2015).

I believe that both virtue and ethics define what we believe in. Factors such as religion and culture have greatly affected my belief. However, this does not imply that my value and ethics may be wrong because I can think differently than others. I have realised that when surrounded by a group, I can use various types of ethics. For example, when surrounded by my brothers, sisters, and friends, I am have always tended to forget about manners and demonstrating courteous. However, dealing with elders has always taught me that I have to deal with carefulness. Because of the role that ethics play in our lives, thoughts and actions, I have ever noticed that it is impossible to say whatever poops out into one's mind. Individuals have judged accordingly through their actions and thus would be thought to be vulgar or disrespectful whenever they say anything in such a scenario (Baer, 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that human beings can develop numerous values and ethics through past experiences. Such experiences can either be positive or negative. Ideally, we are guided by these ideas and beliefs throughout our lives. Markedly, knowing what is right and wrong, provides a strong base for practising good ethics and morals. People can make decisions that have tremendous impacts on their families, employers and society. The current life we lead offers a reflection of the strength of our characters. The choice to engage in a harmful activity makes our character weak and so our morals.

References

Baer, R. (2015). Ethics, values, virtues, and character strengths in mindfulness-based interventions: A psychological science perspective. Mindfulness, 6(4), 956-969. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-015-0419-2

Bleidorn, W., & Denissen, J. J. (2015). Virtues in action-the new look of character traits. British Journal of Psychology, 106(4), 700-723. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjop.12117

Hutchinson, D. S. (2015). The virtues of Aristotle. Routledge.