His ethic is not so much concerned about helping me to see what I ought to do, as about what sort of person I ought to be.Īristotle was concerned with character, and with the things that go to make up good and bad character virtues and vices. The function of ethics is to help me see what I ought to do in a given situation. Heirs as we are to Kant’s idea of duty – there is a right thing that one ought to do, as rational beings who respect other persons – and to Mill’s idea of utility – the right thing to do is that which produces the greatest good for the greatest number – we see ethics as concerned with actions. His idea of ethics was in an important respect different from ours. And, not being philosophers, they weren’t even aware of what they had done. The really curious thing is, though, that the first generation of Christians, who included only a few who would call themselves philosophers, found, if not the solution, at least a solution to the puzzle. This has been going on for something like half a century, and it will no doubt keep us perplexed until well into the new millennium, if not beyond. SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles Virtue ethics and the New Testament Which matter most: virtues or duties? Bob Harrison thinks the early Christians had the answer.įor some time, now, moral philosophers have been scratching their heads over an intriguing problem.
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