Ethical Engineering: Definitions, Theories and Techniques - Ethical Engineering for International Development and Environmental Sustainability - page 24

2.2.1.4 Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics, which dates back to Aristotle (Koehn 1995 ), supports actions which
build good character. It differs from both deontological and consequentialist ethics
in that the focus is the effects of the action on the person carrying it out (and the
relationship between action and character) rather than on the results of the action
or particular obligations and rules. However, despite these different emphases, obli-
gation and virtue-based ethics are generally not in confl ict. Schemes showing that
each moral obligation has a corresponding virtue have been drawn up and also criticised
(Beauchamp 2001 ). Although there is some correspondence between groups of
different types of obligations and virtues, there is not a one-to-one correspondence,
and many virtues do not seem to have associated principles or obligations.
Virtue ethics is based on the premise that a person with moral virtues is more
likely to behave ethically than someone who purely follows rules. This is possibly
an elaboration of the fact that people are generally more motivated and more
successful working on a project they believe in than one they have been assigned to
without consulting their interests. Behaviour often has an impact on character.
Therefore, in addition to virtue ethics being defi ned in terms of the expected behav-
iour of a person with particular virtues, virtue ethics can also be seen as the type of
behaviour which will promote the development of particular virtues. A number of
different suggestions for appropriate virtues have been made. However, it may be
diffi cult to determine the appropriate list of virtues without considering their rela-
tionship to the principles of ethical action, responsibilities or duties and the conse-
quences of the action. In addition, different ethnic and other groups with different
values are likely to have different lists of desired virtues.
Different writers on philosophy tend to have differing opinions as to whether
obligations or virtues should be the primary category in ethical theory. Criticisms of
virtue ethics include the fact that the rules that can be derived from virtue ethics are
often too vague to act as a guide to conduct and the possibility of unethical conduct
through the inappropriate application of virtues. However, unethical conduct can
result from following rules without thinking about the probable consequences of
applying them. It has also been suggested that absolute prohibitions are required.
However, most systems of rules allow for exceptions in the case of apparent absolutes
such as killing. In theory, the promotion of virtue seems highly desirable. However,
in practice, the outcomes will depend on what types of virtues are being promoted.
For instance, a number of societies and groups within societies both historically
and in the present have made 'virtues' of a lack of tolerance and the conviction of
the overwhelming superiority of their culture and beliefs and the inferiority of other
cultures and the wrongness of other beliefs. This has led to discrimination or actual
violence against people with different beliefs and been used to make imperialist and
colonialist occupations desired for economic reasons seem a moral imperative.
These criticisms of virtue ethics indicate the problems with monist theories of
ethics and the need to combine virtue ethics with deontological and consequentialist
approaches. The strength of virtue ethics is its recognition that conduct has an effect
on the person. This gives a feedback system, as illustrated in Fig. 2.1 , in which ethical