Ethics

Ethics is an important part of society. It is a means for deciding a course of action; otherwise, without ethics a person has no sense of direction, no differentiating between right and wrong of human actions. A proper foundation of ethics requires a standard of value to which all goals and actions can be compared to. At a more fundamental level, it is the method by which values are categorized and then pursued. Will one’s own happiness be pursued, or is sacrifice made to a greater cause? Is that foundation of ethics based on the Bible, or on the very nature of man himself, or neither?

Ethics overlaps with culture because it represents the moral dimension of how society should behave. There are several codes of behavior picked up along the way either through religious beliefs (10 commandments or other religious scriptures) or social values (courage, integrity, etc.). Confronted with moral choice brings the cultural as context of interpretation and the ethical consideration together. It is the place in which the decision responds to the specific context and its method of evaluation. For example, if we have to make a decision either to break a promise and be honest or to keep a promise and be dishonest evaluating this dilemma would be treated differently depending on certain ethical theories. Theories such as virtue, utilitarianism, or deontology offer different perspectives on ethics.

Virtue ethics emphasizes the character of the moral agent, rather than rules or consequences. Virtue ethics is also sometimes called agent-based or character ethics. It takes the view point that in living your life you should try to cultivate excellence in all that you do and all that others do. These excellences or virtues are both moral and nonmoral. Through conscious training, for example, an athlete can achieve excellence in a sport (nonmoral example). In the same way a person can achieve moral excellence, as well. The way these habits are developed and the sort of community...