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Moral Consideration

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Submitted By kathycorreia
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Chapter 9
“Good character, in other words, does not obviate the need for other types of moral consideration.” 1
In order to understand this statement, one needs to understand the meaning . Character is defined as the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation <the character of the American people> 2 (Mirriam Webster.com Aristotle tells us that there are two different kinds of human excellences, excellences of thought and excellences of character. His phrase for excellences of character — êthikai aretai — we usually translate as “moral virtue(s)” or “moral excellence(s).” The Greek êthikos (ethical) is the adjective cognate with êthos (character). When we speak of a moral virtue or an excellence of character, the emphasis is not on mere distinctiveness or individuality, but on the combination of qualities that make an individual the sort of ethically admirable person he is.3 (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-character/) .
Moral considerations are sometimes conflictive of one another, because of this we need to regard the causatum of our actions.
In other words, this statement says that you cannot have one without the other, you need virtues and vices, ethics of action and ethics of charcter.
The chapter touches on different aspects of character, persons and principles, compassion, content and temperate persons, ethical pluralism and practical wisdom. For the purposes of this paper, I am going to focus on the pluralistic approach to character.
Aristotle was close to pluralism in his views, and I would actually say that I agree with most of his views, with some thoughts of my own added to them. By taking the pluralistic approach to character one is looking for a way to increase wellbeing and flourishing and to give a certain level of respect and rights to not cause harm without good reason. 5 (rationallyspeaking.blogspot.cona/2011/05/pluralistic-approach-to-ethics) Modern American society strives to be a pluralistic society. I could go down a slippery slope here and start talking about Democrats vs. Republican views but I won’t, I feel it has no place in the workplace, classroom, house of worship or even in the coffee shop.
I will talk about a recent event though, that has both sides talking. Ted Nugent and his speech at the NRA convention, calling the Obama administration “evil” and “America-hating”.6 (www.beaumontenterprise.com) Although a lot of people on both sides are calling his speech anti-American, and I can honestly say I don’t subscribe to a person such as Ted Nugent or any of his beliefs, would we not be the Pluralistic society we are today, a government for the people, by the people and of the people, and since there are no longer any societal norms, everyone is pretty much free to set up their groups as they would like, to make sure all the needs and wants of society are taken care of. 7(www.allaboutreligion.org)
While watching the video of Melinda Gates and Coca-Cola, one could ask, is it the Ethics of Action or the Ethics of Character that makes Coke such a successful enterprise? I feel that a bilateral approach should be taken. Ethics of action can be used because one could say that it is the great marketing that Coke has and they have injected themselves into every market in every country and made it work according to the customs of the country. The Ethics of Character can be used because one could say that Coke could be perceived as the very persona of the United States and having a Coca-Cola product embodies Americana but it also studies the country it is going into and tailors the product to fit societal norms of the target audience. 8(http://www.ted.com/talks/melinda_french_gates_what_nonprofits_can_learn_from_coca_cola.html)
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