Your answers to each of these questions should be at least one paragraph (6-7 sentences) long, and it should show some thoughtful consideration regarding the matters raised in the questions.  Your total set of answers to these questions needs to be at least 200 words.  Also, when you reply to these questions, be sure to insert the letter for each question next to your answer corresponding to that question.

You will also need to reply to at least two students.  When you reply to another student, you do not need to reply to that student’s answers to every single question for this week.  You can just pick their reply to one question and reply to their answer to that question.  Your replies to other students should be at least 100 words long each.

A. One interesting quote regarding Virtue Ethics from a scholar is this: “Aristotle’s theory also has important things to say to us as a society, a society that virtue ethicists claim places far too great an emphasis on rules and personal rights and not nearly enough on personal character and responsibility.” Explain what this quote is saying in your own words.  After explaining what you take it to mean, state if you agree with it or not.

B. One criticism of Virtue Ethics that we covered this week goes as follows.  Think about ethical theories that we looked at in previous weeks – such as Utilitarianism and Kantianism.  These theories give us crisp, clean, and rigid rules that we can follow in virtually any situation.  By contrast, virtue ethics seems problematic insofar as it lacks the crisp, clean, and rigid rules that theories such as Utilitarianism and Kantianism has.  Do you think that this is a good criticism of Virtue Ethics – why or why not?

C.  One of the things that we will be doing each week is discussing some cases from our text Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues.  Look at Case 23 on page 121.  After looking at this case, answer this question about it.  What, if any, virtues did Claude exhibit in this case, and what, if any, virtues was he lacking?

D. One of the things that we will be doing each week is discussing some cases from our text Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues.  Look at Case 10 on page 131.  After looking at this case, answer the following questions about it.  What, if any, virtues did Cibella exhibit in this case, and what, if any, virtues was she lacking?  Also, what, if any, virtues did Cibella’s boss exhibit in this case, and what, if any virtues, was that boss lacking?