Virtue Ethics
Virtue Ethics is an ethical framework that judges a person's ethical value based on their character, rather than a set of principles. Aristotle is often credited for developing this framework. He claimed that an object or being can be "proper functioning", e.g. a knife is good if it can cut well, a flower is good if it can reproduce well, wild dogs are good if they can hunt well together, etc. He laid out a few generally beneficial qualities in people: we grow, are healthy and fertile, use reason, and we get along well together. This is partially derived from Natural Law Theory, which is a concept discussed by Christian philosophers like Thomas Aquinas. Natural Law Theory states that there are certain rights, beliefs, laws, etc. that are given by God to all people. Aristotle stated that, in order to make ethical decisions, people should try to become more virtuous, and then the correct decisions will be self-evident. He proposed a list of 18 moral virtues of each perso