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- 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 it because 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 the morally exemplary. "Virtue" is the translation of the Greek word, arete. But "excellence" is, perhaps, a better word. Understanding virtue ethics requires seeing that virtue is concerned with the exemplary, not the barely passable. (Again, looking at moral exemplars helps.) Arete transforms our understanding of common moral values like justice and responsibility by moving from minimally acceptable to exemplary models.
Moral Leaders The profiles of several moral leaders in practical and professional ethics. Computer Ethics CasesThis link provides several computer ethics cases and also has a description of decision making and socio-technical systems frameworks. Moral Exemplars in Business and Professional Ethics (***Section 2.2***) Profiles of several moral leaders in practical and professional ethics.
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