Virtue Ethics in the Media

From time to time, the actions of a moral agent possessing exemplary ethical conduct reaches the news. In the philosophy of virtue ethics, there exists a sub-category called paragon virtue ethics. On December 3rd, 2019, it was reported that teacher Jessica Woods purchased coats for children in her classroom that were without. I believe Jessica Woods acted as a paragon to virtue. When she asked why she did this, Jessica Woods stated: “I did it because I love them” (Gooden, 2019, p. 8).

Paragon based virtue ethics is an agent-based ethical system because it states that moral good and bad is determined by whether or not a virtuous person would perform them. Those practicing paragon virtue ethics might ask in certain situations, would a virtuous person feel right, or guilty about their actions. This is different from deontological or utilitarian ethics because deontological or utilitarian ethics are action-centered, where virtue ethics are agent-centered, meaning that they do not revolve around the end result, or following a universal law, but instead the actions of a moral agent.

Teacher Jessica Woods states in the interview, "I noticed a couple of weeks ago that some of my students weren't wearing coats, so I decided to just take one of those burdens off my parents by going ahead and getting those coats. They say that it takes a village to raise a child and I am legally a part of that village so I just wanted to help out” (Woods, 2019, p. 1). The reports claim that she set a great example for the community and I agree. Woods received funding to do this simply by posting on Facebook that she wanted to see all of the children having coats because as she stated in the post, “they don’t have coats. I’m an empath and it physically hurts my heart to see that”(2019, p. 1). The ethical dilemma in this situation is that children do not have the means to keep themselves warm, and sometimes parents for whatever reasons do not have the means to keep their children warm either. With the provided quote, we can see that Woods acted as a perfect virtue paragon because every moment that she knew that she was able to assist, she felt the sorrow of not having acted.

With a simple Facebook post, Woods raised enough money to put winter coats’ on her class but had money left over. With the leftover money, Woods plans on continuing fundraising until every child at her school has a coat. With something as simple as a virtue, a single person was able to make a small, yet important difference that helps people obtain a basic need.

References

Gooden, A. (2019, December 4). Local elementary school teacher buying coats for students in need. ABC. Retrieved from https://abc3340.com/news/local/local-elementary-school-teacher-buying-coats-for-students-in-need.

Woods, J. (n.d.). Home. Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/itsjwowwbetchhh/posts/10157282833095804.