Virtue ethics is also known as "Neo Aristotelian Ethics" due to Aristotle's original emphasis upon the role of the virtues in moral behavior. Contemporary virtue ethics asks essentially three questions:
• Who do you most admire?
• What do you most admire about them?
• What list of traits would you use to describe them?
Whereas other ethical theories ask, "What should an individual do in a given moral dilemma?" Virtue ethics asks, "What kind of person do I want to be in this moral dilemma?" The shift of emphasis therefore is away from "doing" toward "being." This is due to the conclusion that "being" always precedes "doing". Put differently, what we choose to "do" in a given situation is reflective of who we "are". The two are intimately related.
Aristotle divided the virtues into two categories: The Intellectual Virtues and the Moral Virtues. Aristotle defined the intellectual virtues as those virtues which enable an individual to understand, reason and to judge well. He proposed that the Intellectual virtues are learned from one's teachers. The Moral Virtues according to Aristotle are those which give an individual the ability to act well in the living of life in general and in a moral dilemma in particular. The Moral Virtues are learned through repetition.
