Moral Virtues and Ethical Decisions

Virtue ethics is an ancient subject primarily established by Aristotle and the Stoics. The ancients considered the development of personal virtue as necessary to achieve a life of “contentment.” This is certainly relevant for the lives of modern organizational participants such as those involved with our environmental advocacy, and their interactions with others. This chapter also uses the Rawlsian criteria to distinguish between the virtues of “competent moral managers and/or decision makers,” and “considered managerial and/or community decisions,” and applies these principles to those government agencies that affect the environment such as the US EPA and Corps of Engineers. In this context, it examines the question, “Might virtuous managers and/or decision makers still make unethical environmental decisions?” The criteria we would use for these judgments are examined. In addition, Kant’s view of the “disposition to pursue duty” relative to the ancient view of virtue ethics is reviewed here and reconciled. In exploring environmental duties of virtue, the example of the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association and the establishment of the Riverkeepers, and the Storm King legal precedent for environmental preservation, are all reviewed as examples of the exercise of virtuous collective duties.