ETHICS by Charitssa

ETHICS by Charitssa - November 2017 Scholarship Essay

What does it mean to have something by nature? Virtue ethics is a normative ethical theory that emphasizes a person’s character as a source of ethical thinking. To be naturally good or bad means that those characteristics would arise in us by nature. In “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle differentiates what is means to have something by nature and what it means to moral virtue. He explains how something that is by nature cannot be contradicted, but moral virtue is not by nature. I’d have to agree with Aristotle. We are not good or wicked by nature, but rather by habit.
Unlike the natural law theory, virtue ethics is inclusive of all ethical behaviors. For example, the natural theory “says that actions are right if and only if and only if they are natural, and wrong if and only if they are unnatural; people are good to the extent that they fulfill their true, bad insofar as they do not.” (p.G-5). Although the opposing side is not necessarily arguing for the natural law theory, they’re opinions still closely resemble the theory. As a normative ethical theory, the natural law theory does not include those who do not know right from wrong—a wrong action can simply feel natural to some people. However, because behavior and characteristics are results of habits due to our experiences, it explains why people behave the way they do. In “Nicomachean Ethics”, Aristotle states “[We] become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.” (Aristotle, p.124). As we develop those habits we soon become those habits. If a person has a bad habit of lying they will be considered a liar, same goes for the person who has a habit of always wanting and taking food will be known as greedy. Those are not things that we do by nature. No one is born a liar or is born greedy. Further into the excerpt of “Nicomachean Ethics” Aristotle says “The agent must be in a certain condition when he does them in the first place he must have knowledge, secondly he must choose the acts, and choose them for their own sakes, and thirdly his actions must proceed from a firm and unchangeable character.” (Aristotle, p.127). That perfectly explains why act the way we act because of habits. Aristotle is saying that no one become good just by doing a right action once or without knowing it. But with consistency and intention you become good, same goes for being bad.
The problem with moral virtue is that habits can be broken. The most courageous person can have a moment of fear and the best-behaved person can make bad choices, which contradicts Aristotle’s Doctrine of the Mean—the idea that every virtue of character lies between two faults or vices—because not everyone’s character is going to fit into two faults or vices. However, this further proves my claim. Character is always subject to change. As Aristotle said “[F]or nothing that exists by nature can form a habit contrary to its nature.” (Aristotle, p.124). Meaning that if moral virtue would arise in us by nature, then the best-behaved person wouldn’t make any bad choice because it wouldn’t be in their nature to make bad choices—but that is not the case.
As a final point, habits are behaviors that are never corrected and thus they become part of our character. Aristotle brought up make good points as to why we cannot be naturally good or naturally wicked. Unfortunately, ethics is never that simple. Different virtues arise in us due to the way we constantly act, not by nature. Our behavior and actions are subject to change. We cannot naturally behave one way if tomorrow we could develop a new habit of behaving another way. Our character is not set in stone.