by Larry Lounsbury

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 15, 2009

Sartre, Ross, and McNaughton provide different perspectives on what might be a common issue. What are their views? How are they similar? How are they different?

Sartres view on virtue was that there was no moral principles that can provide guidance in a great many real life situations. The story of the young man torn between staying with his mother or joining the French forces is his favorite example. Later in our text he clarifies that; if the boy chooses to ask a priest who is resisting or collaborating; then the young man has actually made a choice. Sartre reiterates that a man is free to chose his own path by making his own invented choice at the moment. If you do not choose, it is still impossible not to make a choice. The famous saying comes to mind that states, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke). As a student, I understand that there have been evil forces in the world in the past, such as Hitler, or in recent years in Rwanda, where it appeared people have been slaughtered because men choose not to act in one case in Rwanda, but in the case of World War II, good people did act. At the moment of action or inaction the spirit of who these men were became clear. Deaf ears are guilty of making their bed with the killers when they do nothing.

Thus it is impossible for the young man not to take responsibility for his action or inaction. Caprice (sudden desire) has nothing to do with priori value determining that momentary choice, one that involves all of mankind. You are who you are at that moment by your own choices. He may choose without pre-established values , but nonetheless " it is still impossible for him not to take full responsibility for how he handles the this problem" (Timmons, 232). The example of art and ethics clarify how Sartre sees virtue. The common bond of creation and invention shows that we can not decide a priori what there is to be done. Going back to the example of the young man , a student of ethics sees that the young man torn between war and his mother has no ethical systems such as Kantian to guide him, rather he creates who he is at the moment. Just as the final sculpture or painting appears only after the artists final stroke or press of his fingers. Sartre states "We define man only in relationship to involvement.It is therefore absurd to charge us with arbitrariness of choice " (Timmons p. 232).



Sartre was similar to both Ross and McNaughton in the belief that there was

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