About
According to virtue ethics, an agent's action is morally permissible if and only if a virtuous person in his or her circumstances would perform it and morally obligatory if and only if all virtuous people in his or her circumstances would perform it. Unfortunately, one doesn't always know what a virtuous person (or all virtuous people) in his or her circumstances would do. For example, one might assume that there would be circumstances in which a virtuous person would be willing to eat factory-farmed meat, but one presumably would not know the circumstances in which a virtuous person would do so.
Some think that this is a problem. The correct ethical theory, they contend, must be one on which we can always know whether a particular action is morally right or wrong. This might motivate us to endorse a subjective version of virtue ethics on which an agent's action is morally permissible if and only if he or she believes that a virtuous person in his or her circumstances would perform it and morally obligatory if and only if he or she believes that all virtuous people in his or her circumstances would perform it.
This website helps you understand how virtue ethics works by taking you through the process that a virtue ethicist might go through to decide how to act in a particular situation. If you are interested in checking out how this theory compares to other moral theories, I would encourage you to click on the 'Related Sites' tab at the top of the page.
Instructions
To begin, describe the action you would like to evaluate, and click 'Done'.
Next, you will be asked whether there is a virtuous person who would perform the action you are evaluating in the relevant circumstances. Click one of the boxes on the right side of the page to indicate whether you think there is a virtuous person who would perform this action in the relevant circumstances.
Once you've done that, you will be asked whether all virtuous people would perform this action in the relevant circumstances. Again, click one of the boxes on the right side of the page to indicate whether you think all virtuous people would perform this action in the relevant circumstances.
After you've answered these two questions, a button will appear. Clicking that button will reveal whether you are morally permitted to perform it according to the subjective version of virtue ethics. To see how that conclusion is reached, click here.
I should also mention that if at any point you would like to change your answer to an earlier question, you are welcome to do that. Note, however, that if you change your answer to a question after you've already clicked the button at the bottom of the page to determine whether you may perform the action you're evaluating, you will have to click that button again to reevaluate the action you're evaluating in light of the change you made.
Help
Although this site is pretty straightforward, some might be interested in more information about virtue ethics, which can be found at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
How does this site work?
After you describe the action you're evaluating, answer each of the questions, and click the button to see whether you may perform the action you're evaluating, the site checks your answers to the questions.
If you indicate that there isn't a virtuous person who would perform the action you're evaluating in the relevant circumstances, then the subjective version of virtue ethics entails that your act is not morally permissible.
If, however, you indicate that there is a virtuous person who would perform the action you're evaluating in the relevant circumstances, then the subjective version of virtue ethics entails that your act is at least morally permissible.
In this case, whether the action you're evaluating is also morally obligatory depends on how you would answer the second question. If you indicate that all virtuous people would perform the action in the relevant circumstances, then the subjective version of virtue ethics entails that it is also morally obligatory. Otherwise, the subjective version of virtue ethics entails that it is not also morally obligatory.
Feedback
I hope that you've found this site helpful. If you've found any bugs or would like to suggest ways I might improve it, please let me know. You can contact me by clicking here.