Applied Ethics
As noted in the criticisms, Virtue Ethics is not as straightforward to apply as, say, Utilitarianism (with the Hedonic Calculus) or Kant's Ethical Theory (with the Categorical Imperative). The approach is certainly different and starts with the question 'What sort of person should I be?'
One way of approaching ethical dilemmas is to ask 'What would a virtuous person do?' The recent drama 'Family Man' focussed on a fertility doctor faced with many difficult decisions, such as whether to allow a couple to choose the gender of their IVF baby to replace their son who died. The doctor was over ambitious, and this led to wrong decisions being made. Although he was compassionate, he should have shown greater wisdom.
When writing an exam question, remember the range of virtues you have to choose between and the different things you can say about them. There may also be specific points to be made that relate to the nature of the theory.
For example, when considering whether it is right to go to war, virtue ethicists may be concerned about how training for war affects soldiers. The theory says that virtues like generosity, temperance etc. become habitual. Soldiers develop a very different set of habits. Some people will argue that soldiers can turn this sort of behaviour on and off, disagreeing with the virtue theorist. However, there have been many recent examples of soldiers treating prisoners atrociously - e.g. Abu Ghraib. This highlights the virtue ethicists concern over habitual violence among soldiers.
