Describe an area in your own life that you believe requires certain virtues in order to do well.
Describe an area in your own life that you believe requires certain virtues in order to do well.
D-1 5. Describe an area in your own life that you believe requires certain virtues in order to do well. This might be an occupation, an activity or hobby, a role you play (mother, friend, husband, mentor, etc.), and so on. Explain what this is, and what the “telos” of this kind of thing is; in other words, what is the purpose of this area of life, and would it mean to flourish and do well in it? Are there things people pursue in this area that are not part of the true telos? Finally, what are the virtues that one must have in order to flourish and do well in this area of life? What are some vices that get in the way? Your answers to these questions should include evidence from this week’s readings and media.
The role I play is as a care giver, I play this role as a mother, daughter and a nurse. Courage, patience, and honesty are certain virtues that are needed to fill this role that I play. Aristotle said that courage is “The man, then, who faces and who fears the right things and from the right motive, in the right way and at the right time, and who feels confidence under the corresponding conditions is brave.” (Day, Lisa 2007). This means that a brave or courageous person is someone who can show the right amount of fear and with confidence to overcome it, and respond appropriately. As a mother there is fear with raising your children. This fear may not be about some physical threat to you or your kids but of how you are raising them. Are you teaching them the proper manners, how to treat people, basically how to live a happy life or as Aristotle would say, Eudaimonia. The same goes for being a daughter, I ask myself if I am living an honest life with the courage to do what needs to be done for my family to flourish. As a nurse, and caregiver, I have to courageous enough to stand up to and for my patients. Through all of these roles I show patience and honesty as well as courage, to reach my “telos”, or the end which produces my happiness. These virtues are developed within a person and Aristotle takes for granted that human action is directed toward the good and that achievement of the good results in happiness. (Day, Lisa 2007).
These same virtues can sometimes be faults. Sometimes compassion might lead you to tell a lie to prevent hurting someone’s feelings, or courage can enable someone to do far more wicked things then they would have been able to if they were timid. Sometimes being honest, generous, courageous, and compassionate may not make you a morally good person, or morally good people may be led to act wrongly. (Hursthouse and Pettigrove 2016). Aristotle believes that the good of a human beign nust have something to do with being human; and what sets human beings from other species, giving us the potential to live better life, is our capacity to guide ourselves by using reason. (Kraut, 2017).
Day, Lisa Courage as a Virtue Necessary to Good Nursing Practice; Am J Crit Care November 2007 vol. 16 no. 6 613-616
Hursthouse, Rosalind and Pettigrove, Glen, “Virtue Ethics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .
Kraut, Richard, “Aristotle’s Ethics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .
125 WORD COUNT
Margaret Fraser
Aristotle claims that if you are suffering terrible misfortune, you cannot truly be considered happy or flourishing. However, there are many examples from current and past history, religious traditions, and fiction of people that might seem to contradict this claim (for example, in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-12, Luke 6:20-23) Jesus describes people that seem to be suffering in various ways and calls them “blessed”; some translations say “happy”). Leaving aside any religious assumptions and considering this from a strictly philosophical perspective, do you think that it’s possible for people to be happy or flourishing even if they are suffering terrible misfortune? Provide at least one example to illustrate your answer, and refer to the readings and media to support your view.
I absolutely think that it is possible for people to be happy and/or flourish even though they are suffering great misfortune. I speak from experience. On August 4th, 2017, I got news that no child wants to hear about a parent, “Baby, Daddy has cancer.” Those four words completely turned my world upside down. I wanted to give up on all of my dreams and aspirations and focus completely on the fact that my father has cancer. When I thought more about it, I realized that if I did that he would be terribly disappointed in me because I let his diagnosis consume my life. Even though I am devastated, I have turned that heartbreak into my driving force to live my life to its fullest. I have found so much happiness the last two weeks that I didn’t even know existed. I have put my best efforts into my school work and continue to flourish in that aspect. Never in a million years did I expect that such a devastating blow could turn into something so beautiful.
125 Word COUNT
Allyssia Mota
5. Describe an area in your own life that you believe requires certain virtues in order to do well. This might be an occupation, an activity or hobby, a role you play (mother, friend, husband, mentor, etc.), and so on. Explain what this is, and what the telos of this kind of thing is; in other words, what is the purpose of this area of life, and would it mean to flourish and do well in it? Are there things people pursue in this area that are not part of the true telos? Finally, what are the virtues that one must have in order to flourish and do well in this area of life? What are some vices that get in the way? Your answers to these questions should include evidence from this week’s readings and media.
An area in my life I believe requires certain virtues in order to do well in would be being a wife. Being a wife is sharing your life with another person. The purpose of being a wife is having somebody to share everything with, being with a person and developing a special bond with that person. The idea is to flourish with your partner and build a certain trust that will keep the relationship good. Some things people might pursue while being a wife is expanding their family to help develop the relationship they have as a wife like having kids. Some of the virtues that one must have in order to flourish and do well in being a wife is being understanding. Wife’s at times need to be open minded to their partners. Becoming partners means to be equals in the relationship and with out being open to compromising could end the relationship. Some vices that could get in the way could be lack of communication, insecurities, not trusting your partner, not being opened to new things, and not being able to treat your partner as an equal (like always having to be right or take over everything)