Aristotle & Virtue Of Ethics

3 Pages 640 Words

Aristotle was an ethicist who established a fundamental moral theory knows as “virtue ethics” still widely, applicable today. His ethics had to do with matters of character and virtues, which produce good character traits. According to Aristotle’s book Nicomachean Ethics, some things are good because they lead us to other goods that we desire, some things are good, and at the same time, the means to a good end. On the other hand Aristotle said that evil is a deprivation of some good, thus when someone does evil it is a deprivation or lack of god within that person.
In order to develop good character traits the virtues should be introduced to an individual at an early age. There are four cardinal moral virtues are practical wisdom, a sense of justice or fairness, self restraint r self control and having courage under duress. There are also many secondary moral virtues like honesty, sympathy, understanding, forgiveness etc. Having these virtues introduced to a child will give them the ability to reason and know the difference between good and bad. The virtues are essentially good character traits and they become a habit. These virtues are the ones introduced in our schools today, which provides a reinforcement for some children who are being thought morals at home and for others that are not exposed to them at all.
Fortunately, a new trend is emerging where “teaching of character and values is making an unprecedented comeback in schools” (http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional./todayschild/comeback.htm). These programs “provide students with a grounding in such values as courage and caring, and teach them how to solve disputes peacefully.” ((http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional./todayschild/comeback.htm).
These tactics seem as if they would work very well. They teach children how to think before they react to a bullies threat or comment. The only problem I have with this is that these are children. I th...