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Virtue tables
The table just below provides a format for spellingout individual virtues through (1) a general description, (2) the
correlative vices of excess and defect, (3) the skills and mentalstates that accompany and support it, and (4) real and fictional
individuals who embody it. Following the table are hints on how toidentify and characterize virtues. We start with the virtue of
integrity:
Virtue |
Description |
Excess |
Defect |
Obstacles to realizing the virtue in professional practices |
Moral Exemplar |
Integrity |
A meta-virtue in which the holder exhibits unity of character manifested in holding together even in the face of strong disruptive pressures or temptations |
Excess: Rigidity--sticking to one´s guns even when one is obviously wrong(2,3) |
Defect: Wantonness. A condition where one exhibits no stability or consistency in character |
Individual corruption: Individuals can be tempted by greed toward the vice of defect. Lack of moral courage can also move one to both extremes |
Saint Thomas More as portrayed in Robert Bolt´s A Man for All Seasons. More refuses to take an oath that goes against the core beliefs in terms of which he defines himself. |
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Institutional Corruption: One may work in an organization where corruption is the norm. This generates dilemmas like following an illegal order or getting fired. |
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Exercise 1: construct virtue tables for professional virtues
- Discuss in your group why the virtue you have been assigned is important for the practice of your profession. What goods or values does the consistent employment of this virtue produce?
- Use the discussion in #1 to develop a general description of your virtue. Think along the following lines: people who have virtue X tend to exhibit certain characteristics (or do certain things) in certain kinds of situations. Try to think of these situations in terms of what is common and important to your profession or practice.
- Identify the corresponding vices. What characterizes the points of excess and defect between which your virtue as the mean lies?
- What obstacles arise that prevent professionals from practicing your virtue? Do well-meaning professionals lack power or technical skill? Can virtues interfere with the realization of non-moral values like financial values? See if you can think of a supporting scenario or case here.
- Identify a moral exemplar for your virtue. Make use of the exemplars described in the
Moral Exemplars in Business and Professional Ethics module.
- Go back to task #2. Redefine your description of your virtue in light of the subsequent tasks, especially the moral exemplar you identified. Check for coherence.
- Finally, does your virtue stand alone or does it need support from other virtues or skills? For example, integrity might also require moral courage.
Exercise 2: reflect on these concluding issues
- Did you have trouble identifying a moral
exemplar? Many turn to popular figures for their moral exemplars.Movies and fiction also offer powerful models. Why do you think
that it is hard to find moral exemplars in your profession? Is itbecause your profession is a den of corruption? (Probably not.) Do
we focus more on villains than on heroes? Why or why not?
- What did you think about the moral leaders
portrayed in the
Moral Exemplars in Business and Professional Ethics module?
- Did you have trouble identifying both vices, i.e., vices of excess and defect? If so, do you think this because some virtues may not have vices of excess and defect? What do you think about Aristotle's doctrine of the mean?
- Did you notice that the virtue profiles given by your group and the other groups in the class
overlapped? Is this a problem for virtue theory? Why do our conceptions of the key moral values and virtues overlap?
- Did you find the virtues difficult to
apply? What do you think about the utilitarian and deontological criticism of virtue ethics, namely, that it cannot provide us with guidelines on how to act in difficult situations? Should ethical theories emphasize the act or the person? Or both?
- The most tenacious obstacle to working with
virtue ethics is to change focus from the morally minimal to themorally exemplary. “Virtue” is the translation of the Greek word,
arête. But “excellence” is, perhaps, a better word. Understandingvirtue ethics requires seeing that virtue is concerned with the
exemplary, not the barely passable. (Again, looking at moralexemplars helps.) Arête transforms our understanding of common
moral values like justice and responsibility by moving fromminimally acceptable to exemplary models.
Questions & Answers
A golfer on a fairway is 70 m away from the green, which sits below the level of the fairway by 20 m. If the golfer hits the ball at an angle of 40° with an initial speed of 20 m/s, how close to the green does she come?
A mouse of mass 200 g falls 100 m down a vertical mine shaft and lands at the bottom with a speed of 8.0 m/s. During its fall, how much work is done on the mouse by air resistance
Can you compute that for me. Ty
Jude
what is the dimension formula of energy?
Chemistry is a branch of science that deals with the study of matter,it composition,it structure and the changes it undergoes
Adjei
please, I'm a physics student and I need help in physics
Adjanou
chemistry could also be understood like the sexual attraction/repulsion of the male and female elements. the reaction varies depending on the energy differences of each given gender. + masculine -female.
Pedro
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you have been hired as an espert witness in a court case involving an automobile accident. the accident involved car A of mass 1500kg which crashed into stationary car B of mass 1100kg. the driver of car A applied his brakes 15 m before he skidded and crashed into car B. after the collision, car A s
can someone explain to me, an ignorant high school student, why the trend of the graph doesn't follow the fact that the higher frequency a sound wave is, the more power it is, hence, making me think the phons output would follow this general trend?
Nevermind i just realied that the graph is the phons output for a person with normal hearing and not just the phons output of the sound waves power, I should read the entire thing next time
Joseph
Follow up question, does anyone know where I can find a graph that accuretly depicts the actual relative "power" output of sound over its frequency instead of just humans hearing
Joseph
"Generation of electrical energy from sound energy | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore" ***ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7150687?reload=true
Ryan
what are the types of wave
Maurice
fine, how about you?
Mohammed
A string is 3.00 m long with a mass of 5.00 g. The string is held taut with a tension of 500.00 N applied to the string. A pulse is sent down the string. How long does it take the pulse to travel the 3.00 m of the string?
Who can show me the full solution in this problem?
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Source:
OpenStax, Business ethics. OpenStax CNX. Sep 04, 2013 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10491/1.11
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