Ronald Hursthouse illustrates “how virtue theory directs one to think about [abortion]” (233). He provides specific cases and discusses how each of the cases should be considered using the virtue theory. I feel that Hursthouse explored each case he presented extremely well, he seemed to provide different virtues that would factor into each woman’s life as she considered whether or not to have an abortion. I found it very convincing that each woman had her own unique virtues to consider, and I liked that he took the emphasis of the rights of the fetus and the rights of the woman herself. By using the virtue theory to look at abortion, much of the emphasis was taken off the laws that bind us and instead gave emphasis to the individuality. This seemed to personalize each case in which abortion might be considered, proposing that some abortions may be acceptable under the concepts of the virtue theory, whereas other abortions would not be considered so.
The one place that I felt Hursthouse flawed in his article was his overemphasis on the intrinsic value of being a parent. He claims that those who wish to delay having children are mistaken with how much they are able to manipulate they’re lives, almost suggesting that we were all made to be parents and that being a parent would bring the greatest pleasure to our lives. Although I do think that being a parent would bring great intrinsic value to my own life, I do not think that this is the case for everyone. Certain adults are not responsible or virtuous enough to raise children properly, and many others would find parenting extremely tedious and unfortunately some might even see it as a burden. I think he relied too heavily on this assumptionm towards the end of his paper.
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In addition to what Veronica said that parenthood is not certainly intrinsically good, in fact it cannot be intrinsically good for all people because for some it would be considered not virtuous. Hursthouse states that virtue is doing what it takes for an individual to flourish. should a person not be able to have children for medical reasons or because they would be imcapable of raising a child then it would be not virtuous by her definition. a person could simply have a child and raise it to be a horrible person who is lacking of any moral compass at all. this would mean that a person made something completely unvirtuous in the goal of having virtue, and this mean that it is therefore flawed.
Some could speculate that virtue does not have to coincide with intrinsic good, and Hursthouse never states that virtue is instrinsically good nor good at all, but in any case it is clear that if virtue should be the goal of all people then some who are unable to have children are simply doomed to not have virtue in their lives.
Should intrinsic good not be able to coincide with virtue than it seems as though virtue is simply not something to be saught after. Instead it is rather just a description of the actions of people with no real meaning to it. Of course the authors intention was to say that we should all have virtue but instead she only left us with the possibility that virtue is meaningless.
I believe that Hurthouse would say that there are a specific set of virtues that are good and will help one flourish and there are a distinct set of vices as well. Though this is the case, there are only a few virtues one can use through their life due to the detail and care it takes to live by a certain virtue.
Through these distinct virtues a certain human being will develop their actions and intentions; of course these will be slightly different, but they will have been created by the original set of virtues.
This ties up the loose ends by saying, while you do what you want, understand why you would want to do that, and how other people could do it differently.
Virtue theory essentially states, think, act, and think some more. You must think about all of your intentions and the circumstances surrounding you, act how you believe you will flourish the most, and then think about the consequences your actions have had, how you could minimize them, and if they are the most pleasurable possible.
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