Virtue ethics might be reframed for the LW audience as “habit ethics”: it’s the notion of ethics appropriate for a mind that precomputes its behavior in most situations based on its own past behavior. (Deontology might be reframable as “Schelling point ethics” or something.)
I’ve had the same kind of insight. If you compute the consequences of following certain habits, the best plan looks an awful lot like virtue ethics. You’re not just someone who eats ice cream, you’re someone who has an ice cream eating habit.
Similarly, if you compute the consequences of setting and following rules, you get back a lot of Deontology. A doctor can’t just cut up one person for their organs to save a dozen without the risk of destroying valuable societal trust in others following certain expectations (like not being killed for your organs when you go to the doctor).
Yes—and to extend the point, I am an “all three” ethicist at heart, and I think most people are. We need to assess outcomes, we need to assess habits, and we need to assess fairness. Of course, this leaves wide open the possibility that two or one of {utility, virtue, justice} could be more fundamental and explain the other(s), but at the day to day level we need them all.
Virtue ethics might be reframed for the LW audience as “habit ethics”: it’s the notion of ethics appropriate for a mind that precomputes its behavior in most situations based on its own past behavior. (Deontology might be reframable as “Schelling point ethics” or something.)
I’ve had the same kind of insight. If you compute the consequences of following certain habits, the best plan looks an awful lot like virtue ethics. You’re not just someone who eats ice cream, you’re someone who has an ice cream eating habit.
Similarly, if you compute the consequences of setting and following rules, you get back a lot of Deontology. A doctor can’t just cut up one person for their organs to save a dozen without the risk of destroying valuable societal trust in others following certain expectations (like not being killed for your organs when you go to the doctor).
Yes—and to extend the point, I am an “all three” ethicist at heart, and I think most people are. We need to assess outcomes, we need to assess habits, and we need to assess fairness. Of course, this leaves wide open the possibility that two or one of {utility, virtue, justice} could be more fundamental and explain the other(s), but at the day to day level we need them all.
This is pretty accurate for me. Most of the time virtue ethics give the right answer.