INTRODUCTION This semester, we have studied different theories and texts presenting ethics and feminist ethics contextualized within a variety of issues. While modern philosophers such as Mill and Kant have taken an approach to ethical questions that is more rule-based, their ancient counterparts (namely, Plato and Aristotle) have taken an approach to ethics that relies more on character and ethical way of being (Landes, 2013). The former attempts to create a set of rules which we can apply to our actions whereas the latter argues that rather than creating a system of ethics, we ought to focus on the very character of people; adopting good habits of character will lead us to doing was is right and what is essential for us to be a fully happy …show more content…
In her article “Virtue Theory and Abortion”, Hursthouse (1991) decides to apply virtue ethics to the question of abortion, a topic that is still contentious to this day. First, she establishes that there has been two traditional stances on the abortion debate : women’s rights and fetal rights. However, Hursthouse wishes to distance herself from these debates and claims that we do not need to take a position regarding this status of the fetus to apply a virtue ethics approach to the issue of abortion. She goes on to argue that by knowing the biological facts of pregnancy, we have enough knowledge of the fetus and its status to argue about the ethics of terminating a pregnancy. In my essay, I will to argue that the author’s virtue ethics approach to the question of abortion may be valid, but it is so because she ultimately does posits herself on the status of the fetus. Still, she fails to offer an alternative that avoids debate over the question of the metaphysical status fetus; thus rendering her argument to be flawed. She refuses to clarify the status of the fetus, to give something about its fundamental nature that we can apply normative claims to. Thus, in my opinion, Hursthouse’s approach …show more content…
First, as I have mentioned earlier, there are rule-based ethics that attempt to identify principles that can be universalized and which we can use as guidelines. They inform the ethics regarding the way we act. Quite obviously, this appeal to a somewhat universal theory can be problematic. Such theories require a great degree of obedience whereas theories associated to virtue ethics allow a greater agency as they acknowledge the important need for contextualization. This makes virtue ethics very appealing, especially when speaking of an issue like abortion. Unlike most of the rule-based theories that create ‘systems of ethics’, virtue ethics allows a certain freedom that enables us to act according to our common sense when it comes to questions that have to do with morality. For example, as we have seen in class, theories of ethics that categorically prohibit actions such as lying or argues for the killing of an innocent person can be the ethical way to act is very difficult to defend and justify. Furthermore, Aristotle’s Nicomachian Ethics that inquire what is right, what is wrong, and how we ought to live. With this theory, Aristotle gives us the actual, albeit quite vague, definition of practical wisdom : something which pertains to the practice of living virtuously. This approach to ethics