Dilemma using Mills Utilitarianism, Kants Deontology, and Aristotles Virtue Ethics Free Essay Example, 1250 words

That’s why an attempt to define goodness not by debt, but by something else, like personal enjoyment, individual aims, and circumstances, will lead only to empirical understanding of enjoyment subject, but not to the concept of moral goodness itself (as it has to be). The categorical imperative is an interior moral law, which in fact is a debt to act decently towards others and towards yourself by keeping your life worthily and developing yourself morally (Kant, 2010, p. 7). The essence of human wisdom is moral self-knowledge and consciousness, which form impartiality in making judgments about oneself, comparing with the categorical imperative, and honest oneself’s admission that he is either moral or immoral. So Kant’s moral debt, which differentiates human from animal, is first of all, an inner understanding and recognition of moral acts among the immoral ones (conscience). Aristotle’s ethical position has in its fundamental the concept of virtue. Aristotle (1999) divides virtue into two kinds: moral or ethical, and the reasonable or intellectual one (p. 20). Ethical virtue represents a balance between the extremes of excess and shortage, for example, to be virtuous in finance you have to keep balance between generosity and greed, to become virtuous in social connections you have to balance between sociability and asceticism etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Dilemma using Mills Utilitarianism, Kants Deontology, and Aristotles Virtue Ethics or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now To be virtuous human must know what is considered to be good and bad. This knowledge acquires by human through education and exercising in moral actions, because through the life human acts, gaining experience, and forms his character according to it (Aristotle, 1999, p. 21). In fact, to act morally human should use both kinds of virtue, because Aristotle emphasizes that all good actions are those, which based on rational fundamentals, so knowledge brings human not only intellectual development, but also the moral one. To behave morally towards other people is to use the same principle of balance: to do as it will be good and valuable for both you and others. It’s almost impossible to say that this or that ethical doctrine is good or bad, because moral standards are usually evaluated from subjective point of view. Considering the following situation through Mill’s, Kant’s, and Aristotle ethical doctrines, shows that all of them have some disadvantages, but still comparing them, one is the most suitable. The situation: I’ve been married for 10 years and have 2 children ages 5 and 8. I think I’m no longer in love with my spouse and I’m considering divorce.