The Moral Agent:

Developing Virtue as a Habit

VIRTUE- how do you define virtue? A virtue is an excellent trait of character A virtue is a trait or
quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good
moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards: doing what is right and

avoiding what is wrong. . ito ay isang pag-uugali na nagpapakita ng matataas na pamantayang moral:
paggawa ng tama at pag-iwas sa mali.

Like for example you faced some ethical challenges on your life so how will you faced this kind of
challenges by still having a virtue anyone in the class?

Virtue place more importance on being a person who is honest, trustworthy, generous and other
virtues that lead to a good life,and that’s According to Aristotle, by honing virtuous habits, people will
likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges

Virtue helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being and it gives us a guide for living
life without giving us specific riles for resolving ethical dilemmas.( Tinutulungan tayo ng birtud na
maunawaan kung ano ang ibig sabihin ng pagiging mabuting tao at nagbibigay sa atin
ng direksyon sa buhay without giving us specific riles for resolving ethical dilemmas (how do you
define a good person? For me, it depends on their intention.

If someone done something bad (Lying, stealing, etc) with a good intention (Protect, help, etc), I would
likely call him/her is a good person.

And if someone doing something good (Making donation, help others, etc) with a bad intention (To
catch attention, show off, etc), I would likely call him/her a bad person.

Good person is the one who have a good reason of their own action and have care about other people's
feeling.

- Aristotle and Plato (Virtue is a philosophy developed by Aristotle and other ancient Greeks such as
plato. And this traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once
established, they will become stable.

-excellent trait of character or disposition ( character traits that enable us to be and to act in ways that
develop this potential. They enable us to pursue the ideals we have adopted. So Honesty, courage,
compassion, generosity, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of
virtues.)

- is to be a certain sort of person with complex mindset(To possess a virtue is to be a certain sort of
person with a certain complex mindset. A significant aspect of this mindset is the wholehearted
acceptance of a distinctive range of considerations as reasons for action.)how will you identify an
honest person? An honest person cannot be identified simply as one who, for example, practices honest
dealing and does not cheat. If such actions are done merely because the agent thinks that honesty is the
best policy, or because they fear being caught out, rather than through recognising “To do otherwise
would be dishonest” as the relevant reason, they are not the actions of an honest person. An honest
person cannot be identified simply as one who, for example, tells the truth because it is the truth, for
one can have the virtue of honesty without being tactless or indiscreet. The honest person recognises
“That would be a lie” as a strong (though perhaps not overriding) reason for not making certain
statements in certain circumstances, and gives due, but not overriding, weight to “That would be the
truth” as a reason for making them. An honest person’s reasons and choices with respect to honest
and dishonest actions reflect her views about honesty, truth, and deception—but of course such views
manifest themselves with respect to other actions, and to emotional reactions as well

HABITS -

For Aristotle, a habit is an acquired disposition to perform certain types of action. If this disposition
involves an enhanced cognitive control of actions, it can be considered a “habit-as-learning”.

We can say that Virtues are habits. That is, once they are acquired, they become characteristic of a
person. I would like to say an example example, a person who has developed the virtue of generosity
is often referred to as a generous person because he or she tends to be generous in all circumstances.

Virtues are the essence of our character and when we keep the practice of virtues at the heart of
everyday life, we live with purpose.

- a link between a stimulus and a response -we are psychology student so we all know what is
sstimulus.. a stimulus is something that provokes or causes an action or response, as in
Failing that test was the stimulus I needed to start studying harder. The plural of stimulus is
stimuli. Its verb form is stimulate, which typically means to spur into action or to invigorate. A
stimulus is any change or signal in the environment that can make an organism react is some way. A
response is an action or change in behavior that occurs in result of the stimulus.

- it serves as a mental connection between a trigger thought or event (stimulus) and our response to
that trigger (the response)

>Repeating this connection time and again forms a habit and affects all subsequent decisions and
actions.

>If repeated often enough, this connection becomes near permanent unless we take conscious action to
change it.

This character-based approach to morality assumes that we acquire virtue through practice and kapag
nga nag prapractice tayo mostly is nagiging hait natin ito so By practicing being honest, brave, just,
generous, and so on, a person develops an honorable and moral character. These traits derive from
natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once established, they will become
stable.

By honoring virtuous habits... ( this is one of an important reminder)

-people will likely make the right choice when faced with ethical challenges.

GOLDEN RULE:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ” Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you. Treat other people with the concern and kindness you would like them to show toward you.
This saying has come to be called the Golden Rule. The basic message of this is: "Avoid doing bad
things to others." It is something passive, simply avoiding or not doing.

“Treat others as you want to be treated yourself” and never stop being a good way of living together
with other people.

A good way of thinking about is to ask yourself what the world would be like if everyone, at all times,
treated other people the way they themselves would want to be treated. It's a fair assumption that
most people want to be treated with kindness, consideration, courtesy, and respect. Surely, then, if
people applied the same standards to others as they do to themselves, the world would be a much
better place for it.

CONCLUSION

-Virtue ethics helps us understand what it means to be a virtuous human being and it gives us a guide
for living life without giving us specific riles for resolving ethical dilemmas.

REFERENCES:

www.rep.routledge.com

www.icsunwrapped.utexas.edu

make-or-break habits .com