1. What are examples of virtues, values, and moral concepts? How do each of these relate to one another? In what ways are they separate and in what ways are they connected?

Virtues are prioritized differently for different people and cultures. Some cultures hold religious faith as virtuous while others consider understanding and tolerance to be of virtue. Many different character traits can be listed as virtuous; they simply change depending on ones culture and personal feelings. Values are the amount of weight, worth, or possibly importance one places upon specific character traits. One person may consider selflessness to be highly valued where another may place honesty higher in value. Morals are the rules in which one uses to gauge right and wrong. Many people have a general sense that morals are derived from religion. However, morals have no basis in religious views whatsoever. Ones morals are developed through his or her valuation on what he or she may consider to be virtuous. Some moral obligations may be obvious to one person but not another. One person may feel that civil rights should only extend to a specific race, while others feel they extend to all races. Similarly some may feel that sexual orientation is something that is ok to discriminate while others find it appalling. Values, virtues, and morals all tie into one another by defining ones character and how he or she judges others character. A hierarchy of virtues and morals develop a system that people use to evaluate a culture, society, and even an individual. Each of these components makes up the whole.

2. Select two major ethical theories covered in your readings for Week One. What are the major differences between these two theories? Which one of these theories most aligns to your personal beliefs? Explain. 

Utilitarianism & Virtue Ethics

Utilitarianism is a theory that contends an action is moral or immoral depending upon the amount of total utility for a group resulting from said action, (Boylan, 2009).

Virtue ethics are based upon good being a result of pursuit of excellence (Boylan, 2009). The major difference in these two is that utilitarianism is more concerned with the greater good of the group rather than individual good of a person. The more benefit to society the higher on the morality scale. Virtue ethics is more concerned with the specific action being moral for the weight in which that person places upon the action taken.

Utilitarianism is closest to my personal beliefs than the other. While I do like the idea of virtue ethics and think it is somewhat inherent in utilitarianism I do find the later to create a stronger happiness in general. Of course decisions are difficult to make based on the greater good. Especially when it comes down to serious ones such as life and death. My views tend to change depending on circumstance but generally fall within the utilitarian group.

I find ethical contractarianism interesting as well. The main issue I see with this is the possibility of corruption and understanding. It is difficult to maintain the same understanding of a definition among a diverse group of people, which can lead to poor decisions and preying on the weak.

Reference

Boylan, M. (2009). Basic ethics: Basic ethics in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Pearson.