OOTS #1274 - The Discussion Thread

[David Gould]

And would a virtue ethics person lie to save {Scrubbed}? Lying is a no-no, as honesty is a virtue, right (at least, it is for some versions of the Virtue Ethic)? This seems an ethical no-brainer - of course you would lie, right? If your ethics say otherwise, that is against our moral intuitions also ...

This is why appealing to what people feel is right is not a very good option. Intuition can be a guide in some circumstances. But reason seems a better method if our moral system has some goal.

(I should also just state here that I do not believe in 'a correct morality' in the sense that there is some standard 'out there' somewhere. All there can be are actions that get us closer to an agreed upon goal or actions that get us further away from that goal. Chess has an agreed upon set of rules and an agreed upon goal. Thus, there are moves that get you closer to that goal or futher away from that goal.)