virtueethics

4. Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics, the third approach that author used to estimate the moral level of internal auditors, concerned about the characters traitsthat internal auditors should have. In contrast the Kantian ethics theory and utilitarianism theory, virtues ethics theory can used to answer different questions (Singleton, 1999@1). Kantian theory and utilitarianism theory are focus on the question of “how should I act”, while Virtue ethics concerned about “What kind of person should I be”. In this repo rt, author discuss five radical virtues that should be hold by the moral person and use them to analyses the characters of Cooper who has been regarded as the moral exemplar of internal auditor.
4.1 The advantages of virtue ethics
There are few advantage of virtue ethics. In contrast of the Kantian and Utilitarian which based on rules and regulation, Virtue ethics focus on the good characters traits, it develop to create virtuoushuman beings. Be first presented by Aristotle in Nichomachean Ethics, virtue ethic develops the characters of people, and encourage them not just to follow the rules about morality, they should have virtuous characters and act virtuous habitually (Waluchow, 2002). In our society, although we have laws and regulations, there are still crimes. So we should encourage the people to develop their virtuous characters.
Secondly, the recognition of good and moral characters is the basic of deciding what the good acts is. Hursthouse (1997) stated that only the action that doing under the virtuous characters is right. Thus, virtues ethics can be seen as the premise of the Kantian theory.
4.2 The limitations of virtue ethics
However, there are also some limitations of the using of virtue ethics to analyze the morality of internal auditor.
In this article, five basic virtues discussed by author are temperance, justice, courage, compassion, and wisdom, which was presented by Plato.But whether or not these virtues can be appropriate and efficient for the morality judgmentfor internal auditors should be argued. The choice of virtues can be affected by many factors, and there is not only one set of virtues (Waluchow, 2002).In history, different period , within different culture, different philosopher may present different sets of virtues, which result in difficulties choice of the appropriate moral characters for all internal auditors For example, Victorian virtues are temperance, modesty, piety, obedience and
conformity, and the Virtues for today are tolerance, individuality, generosity, patience and loyalty. Thus, it is difficult to choose the correct virtues for internal auditors.
In addition, the virtues ethics, that the author used, only discuss the moral characters that person should have, but do not provide the specific rules and guidance for the ethical dilemma. The Kantian ethics theory and utilitarianism theory discuss the rules to tell internal auditors what the moral actions are and what actions they should do to achieve the best result. As for virtues, it is the mean of two extremes, and it is difficult for internal auditors to keep balance. Even though they keep the same virtuous traits, they may still have the different actions based on the different understanding and explanation of the character traits.
Reference
Hursthouse, R, (1997) “Virtue Theory and Abortion” in R. Crisp and M. Slote(eds), Virtue ethics (pp. 217-238). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Waluchow,W. 2002, Virtue Ethics, The Dimensions of Ethics.
Singleton.J, 1999, Virtue Ethics, Kantian Ethics and Consequentialism, Herfordshire: University of Hertfordshire.。