Police Ethics-Chapter 5, What is Character? Flashcards
384-322 BCE Greek philosopher who was taught by Plato, tutored Alexander the Great, and established his own school, the Lyccum: created virtue-based ethics as well as the study of logic, politics, drama, and biology.
Aristotle
School of ethical thought suggesting that good character is determined by living a life that attempts to emulate role models or exemplars.
Ethics of virtue
Role models or heroes;people who live lives that others aim to emulate.
exemplars
Aristotle’s idea that people should act with moderation, behave in ways that seek a norm between defects and excesses in personal conduct.
Golden Mean
An individually developed understanding of what the pursuit of happiness should entail.
the good
The characteristic of wholeness and of living a life consistent with one’s principles.
integrity
The outermost characteristics that determine a person’s nature such as intelligence, with charm, cordiality, and so on.
personality
The rule of the game that must be observed by criminal justice practitioners when applying substantive law;for example, applying the Miranda decision.
procedural justice
The rules of conduct which people (citizens) must observe when dealing with each other in daily life;the idea of justice as what people deserve.
substantive justice
A particular moral excellence or moral quality that is perceived to be good.
virtue
Character traits are often called
virtues
virtues
integrity, courage, loyalty, honesty
Two views of character
Irish novelist, Maria Edgeworth
WE cannot judge…the character of men with perfectr accuracy, from their actions or their appearance in public; it is from their careless conversation, their half-finished sentences, that we may hope with the greateset proability of success to discover their real character
American novelist, Henry James
what is character but the determination of incident. What is incident but the illustration of character.
Moral concepts
are functions of the childs or the cops history
Character
our basic moral disposition, originates in childhood. Where we first learn about friendship and meanness, deceit and honesty, suspiciousness and trust
Just as our early family life shapes and molds the personality traits we are born with, so too, the ______ is where our basic moral temperament takes its form.
the family
unexamined life
Socrates warning against self delusion, rationalization, egotism, excuse making
progressive
changeableness of a persons character. developing life of a person.
Aristotle argues that a human beings natural disposition is a
realistic frame of mind
Aristotle called the virtues are what bring about a realistic attitude
moral qualities. A person is in control of his life. He chooses the kind of person he will be.
Aristotle says a person is in control of his life he
chooses the kind of person he will be