Ethical Ideology

For the past couple weeks, we’ve been focusing on the study of ethics and the work of different philosophers who are historically significant.  Some of these philosophers include Plato, Aristotle, Bentham, and Hume.  The study of ethics is the attempt made by philosophers to characterize what it means to live a good, meaningful life.  As we’ve seen, there are a wide take on the ethical ideologies that philosophers have laid out over the centuries.   With the quiz that we took at the start of the week after getting back from April break, the philosopher that most closely aligned with me was Aristotle, and in all honesty, this surprised me. 

If I were to characterize what it is I hope to gain out of life, I would describe a virtuous, adventurous, purposeful and resilient life.  To see, to serve, to sacrifice, and to sacrifice are just a few of the ways I would characterize my idea of a good life.  Without confusing my aspirations for life with my ethical ideals, I would say that fulfillment is found in serving others, which is part of the reason why I chose to pursue a career in the Coast Guard.  Not only this, but I believe that is our individual duty to serve of others, not just a decision made by the 1% in uniform.  Beyond this, it’s important to cultivate a sense of curiosity about the world in order to fully enjoy the riches that life has to offer.  Travelling, reading, writing, exploring and learning are all ways to cultivate this sense of curiosity.  Perhaps the final component of my thoughts of living a fulfilling life is incorporating resilience into life.  Life tends to throw hardships to you when you least expect them, and having resilience at these moments is critical to growth. 

I suppose that because of this vision of a fulfilling life, Aristotle is in fact a strong fit for me.  Aristotle ultimately believes in the idea that the highest good and the goal of all human activity is the attainment of happiness.  You attain this happiness by living a virtuous life and by constantly learning about the world around you and your own self.  Virtuous acts require morality and conscious choice.  In other words, man has personal responsibility for his actions.  Only through action can a man achieve moral virtue.  So much of what Aristotle believes aligns with my ideals of living a fulfilling life.  Word for word, we each incorporate the idea of living a virtous life into our ethical beliefs, and he builds off of this idea by claiming service brings about fulfillment.