Question

unit 4 — milestone 4
question 1
which action demonstrates a shortcoming of virtue - based ethics?
participating in an anti - war protest due to personal convictions about the morality of war
donating to a charity out of a sense of superiority and ego
refusing to engage in gossip out of a sense of respect for others privacy
lying so that a coworker will lose his job

Explanation:

To determine the action showing a shortcoming of virtue - based ethics, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: Participating in an anti - war protest due to personal moral convictions about war aligns with virtue - based ethics as it comes from a sense of moral virtue.
• Option 2: Donating to charity out of a sense of superiority and ego. Virtue - based ethics emphasizes good character traits like benevolence (giving to charity should be out of good will, not ego). So this shows a shortcoming as the motivation is not virtuous.
• Option 3: Refusing to gossip out of respect for others' privacy is a virtuous action, in line with virtue - based ethics.
• Option 4: Lying to make a coworker lose their job is unethical, but it's more about a malicious act rather than a shortcoming of virtue - based ethics (it's not related to the virtue - based framework's focus on good character traits in the same way as the second option).

Answer:

B. Donating to a charity out of a sense of superiority and ego