Moral Controversies Are a Major Concern of Contemporary Society - Essay Example

Moral controversies are a major concern of contemporary society. Virtue ethics thus specifies that in order to mitigate this issue, it is vital for every individual to have a strong understanding of his/her moral rights and duties. Such awareness makes an individual acquainted with ideal characteristics to promote ethical thinking, which implies that he/she is just and right with virtue and good thoughts (Athanassoulis, n.d.).
Thesis Statement. With consideration to the above-mentioned notion, this thesis elaborates upon the attributes of virtue ethics on individuals and society. Contextually, moral controversies and their impact on society are vital and hence, the effect of virtue ethics is an important considerate in this regard. The discussion henceforth also stresses the fact that the impact of social issues like abortion may lead to the death of several lives in society and create a moral controversy.
Discussion
Virtue ethics, in its simplest form, implies the good character of individuals and their awareness of the moral rights they have. According to virtue ethics, a virtuous person will have his attention towards avoiding social moral controversies, as they focus on the nature of the issue. In this context, it can be stated that virtue ethics focuses more upon the aspect of how an individual should live and portray his/her characteristics and express wisdom towards solving issues. Accordingly, these aspects and positive traits of the people minimize the risk of moral controversies to a considerable extent (British Philosophical Association, n.d.).
Virtue ethics is based upon three tenets to avoid moral controversies, which include ‘agent-based theories, Eudaimonism, and the ethics of care. In other words, virtue ethics is a form of “Modern Moral Philosophy”, which implies that every individual living in a society needs to have rational thoughts to avoid controversies. Hence, virtue implies the right action of an individual guided by their moral obligations (British Philosophical Association, n.d.).
Concerning abortion, the right attitude or virtue depends upon the relevance of action, based on correct information. As virtue ethics refers to a fetus to be a life, and because killing a life is against moral consideration, virtue ethics refer to abortion as a wrong action. However, the action of abortion can be referred to as virtuous, if the decision is based on accurate information, independence, and self-determination by the expecting mother and the pregnancy may be a life threat to the woman or to the infant after birth. Therefore, the right action of virtue ethics towards abortion depends on various facets of rights and wrong. Read More