Jake Bumgarner
12-5-16
Professor Carey
ENGL 2300
Applying Ethics
Considering that I am a Finance major that has always had a preference for
science and math classes paired with a general disdain for English classes, I can
honestly say that I was not ecstatic about taking this course. Because of the general
lack of interest I had always had studying literature during high school, I didn’t
expect to gain much out of this class. From the little I did know about ethics prior to
coming into this class, I assumed the class would grant me a better understanding of
the general philosophical theories, but I had no idea that studying Ethics would have
a profound impact on the way I live my life. Out of all the classes I have taken in my
academic career, I have never learned material that I have actually been able to
apply to my personal life, or that has impacted the way that I made decisions in my
day-to-day life. Although I enjoyed nearly every section we covered because of each
new perspective on life, there was only three that stood out to me and that I will
carry with me the rest of my life. Through grasping a better understanding of the
theories of virtue ethics, deontological ethics, and ethics of care, I was able to
substantially improve the quality of my moral character, and gained a brand new
perspective on achieving my personal, academic, and career goals.
While there were multiple philosophical theories that changed the way I
thought about morality and life in general, none had a more definitive impact on my
life than “virtue ethics.” Contrast to rule-governed ethics that seems to dominate
moral philosophy, virtue ethics doesn’t overlook the character make up of a person
when deciding whether they’re morally good or evil. This is the one aspect of this
moral theory that makes it the most appealing to me. Rather than judging each
individual action of a person as good or evil, virtue ethics is more analytical of the
character traits of the person committing said action. For example, if a person
carried out a morally good action, a virtue ethics theorist would claim that this is
simply a reflection of the high-quality character traits they posses and the person
that they are. Virtue ethics theorists assert that people should not ask “what should I
do?” but rather “what shall I be?” Virtue ethics puts more value on striving to be a
person of exceptional moral character, rather than striving to make the right choice
