Published: 2025-10-29
Last Updated: 2025-10-29
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Ethics in the modern sense is the context of keeping agreements. People have agreements for various reasons and they are not always based on whether something is right or wrong. An agreement can be done only based on self interest. Keeping an agreement makes a person well known and reliable when other people are looking to complete similar agreements. Having multiple agreements requires an assessment of whether any other agreements might be broken by entering into a new agreement.
When multiple agreements requires that some of the agreements would be broken, the decision on which agreements to keep, which ones to break, and which ones not to renew can be based only on self interest. This can be cost, expense, preference, time commitments, or resource availability. The decision on which agreements to keep, which ones to enter into, and which ones to renew does not have to be based on concepts of right and wrong, they can be based only on agreements and self interest.
The word ethics is referenced to originate from ethike or ethos attributed to the Greek language and indicating habits, time, and experience. It implies setting an example, being a role model, and emulating a desired outcome (p. 174). Ethics in the book is examined briefly throughout multiple contexts.
Virtue
This is the main theme of the book which is explained on the first two pages of chapter 7. Other chapters adding history, or comparisons, and the rest of chapter 7 adding additional detail. The origins of Virtue Theory are given as Aristotle and his student Socrates and this is related to Utilitarianism, Imperatives, Morals, and Ethics. Vaughn describes Virtue Ethics thorughout the book.
Virtue ethics as a theory of morality is described as being in contrast to morality. It does not look at the moral right of conduct, instead it places virtue at the center of human development which is based on happiness, flourishing, and balancing extremes. The measurements of virtue are flourishing, eudaimonia, golden mean, excess, deficit and vice (p. 164, 165, 177). Aristotles writing is included in the book who references Nicomacheans as a source of his teachings.
The entire book uses morality as a placeholder for behavioral decisions or sources of perceptions. These can be cultural or "from within". A way to phrase this concept is that decisions on morality are often culturally relevant, or self relevant. Subjectivism is often described as a source of perception, subjective to culture or subjective to self (p. 20-21). Virtue then, seeking happiness, flourishing, eudaimonia is viewed as being self relevant or culturally relevant. Ethics, which is based on agreements, is viewed through the principle of impartiality and can be normative, descriptive, detailed (meta), or applied (p. 7, 5). Virtue ethics, sets the concepts for meeting or breaking agreements, and for entering into agreements in the first place.
They can be self relevant, they can be culturally relevant, they should be impartial and consistent. The book indicates habits or routine behaviors as a form of ethics. It also combines this concept with flourishing and happiness to discuss virtue ethics.
Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bantham and J.S. Mill, build on the concept of virtue to describe utilitariansm. People that seek to flourish build virtue through seeking their own happiness, this leads to flourishing. It can mean that there are some resources available through their virtue activities. Bantham and Mill feel this should be used for the good of the community. While these concepts seem to be reasonable there are concepts not described in the book that are normally in conversations on utilitariansm.
Some of the deeper conversations on using people as a utility are left unanswered, and unapproached because the books author seems to want to introduce the reader to the concepts of utility. What if there is a desire to be used as a utility, and there is an agreement. What if the person's desire is to be a community resource in order to drive their own virtue into a state of eudaimonia?
Bantham and Mill can be found in Chapter 5 (p. 100-109 and p. 120-124). However, utilitarianism is introduced in chapter 4 (p. 71) as theory of right and wrong, consequences and nonconsequences. It states that "a morally right action is the one that produces the most favorable balance of good over evil". Kant is introduced on this page of moral deliberations (p. 74). His nonconsequentialist theory seeks to establish a single principle as the foundation of his theory.
Imperatives
Kant describes Maxims as a rule that should be followed in certain circumstances. The rule should always be followed and is built from an imperative. This states that a maxim should only be followed if you can will it to become a universal law. Whats implied on categorical imperatives is that a situation may have many maxims that are applied to it, and a person would do an assessment on a categorical imperative that has many maxims. One of the assessments is a mental simulation on the results of a decision if everyone were to make the same decision. What Kant is looking for in making an assessment on a categorical imperative is that the decision is free from logical contradiction and that the action possesses a particular property (p. 75). The rest of the chapter focuses on an overview of natural law, devine command, and a section on evaluating theories. This includes a three phase assessment on consistency with moral judgments, consistency with moral experience, and usefulness in moral problem solving (p. 77-78). There are a few pages on devising moral theories (p. 80-82, 86) and rules on rights and justice (p. 83-85). Kant is formally introduced in chapter 6.
Responsibility is a reason that someone would complete an action. They would be labeled as right only if the action was completed because it was someone's responsibility. Kant describes this as duty for the sake of duty is good will and he views this type of action as being morally right (p. 131). He introduces hypothetical imperatives, to do something out of desire. Categorical imperatives are also elaborated on, do them regardless of wants and needs. Other concepts include perfect duties that must always be followed, and imperfect duties that have exceptions. He describes how maxims are assessed for moral consistency when thinking of what the results would be if it were to become a universal law. Obviously categorical imperatives with perfect duties must be followed at all times. Hypothetical imperatives with imperfect duties are more flexible and permissive.
Kant's analysis on maxims include moral permissiveness, if it were acted on by everyone and it were to destroy itself, then it is not morally permissive (p. 133). These maxims are viewed as self defeating and non-universalizable. In examining utilitarianism, he describes people as a means-to-an-end. His philosophy are that people are an end to themselves and not merely tools to be used for others purposes. It is one of his categorical imperatives that people have intrinsic worth and should be viewed as rational beings who are free to choose their own ends.
The rest of the chapter focuses on applying and evaluating his theory and the chapter closes with writings from Kant (p. 145-154).
Comparisons
A famous written debate by Ruth Benedict and James Rachel is included in chapter 2 (p. 33-42). Benedict writes about abnormal personality, institutions, and psychiatry. James Rachel writes about cultural relativism in a chapter that introduces subjectivism and relativism (p. 20). Decisions are made based on subjective perceptions of an environment and are either relevant to oneself or to the culture that is in their environment. The book has many asides such as Nozick (p. 102), Peter Singer (p. 104), and Moral Theories versus Moral Codes (p. 72).
All of the theories are based on Aristotle or a concept that he would have encountered during his time. The theories themselves may build on this so they don't necessarily correlate to Aristotle completely. The main concepts throughout all the theories are how a decision relates to oneself and how it relates to the environment. This is true of relativism, virtue, utilitarianism, and imperatives. The asides in the book such as chapter 8 or 12 can be analyzed under this context and present in interesting study on their own.
Review
The book is based on philosophy and does not read straight through like a novel. It is meant to be used as a study aide and reference. The book includes lots of information and writings that make unnecesary to surf the internet tracking things down. At the same time, it is internet friendly and allows searching for additional information or key terms included in the book.
Each instructor will have different methods of studying the book, this post outlines the main concepts to study the rest of the book and make better use of it as a reference. For self study, the goal is often to minimize rereading and to be able to take good notes or memorize so that using it as a reference resembles looking through a dictionary or encyclopedia. It can then also be used as a starting point for information research on the topic of ethics.
Examination
This allows for deep reflection on philosophical topics. It covers morality, imperatives, utility, virtue, and relativism. The asides provide further reading and can be used for contemplating perceptions about an environment or about behaviors. There are many approaches to take regarding a perception, is it a maxim, is it an expectation from society, is there a consequence, does it build virtue.
While the book includes writing from various people, the foundations of the philosophy are based on Aristotle and the concept of seeking happiness through building virtue. This leads to conversations on utility, imperatives, morality, and maxims. The rest of the book can then be examined for perceptions.
It is a good reference book with interesting use cases for both the table of contents and the index. Having been recently written, it covers topics of recent interest. This includes environmental ethics, ethical treatment of animals, feminism, and global economics. It is definitely worth studying and having in a reading collection.