Ethics & Plagerism

The whole basis of an education is to learn from doing, not from stealing other peoples work. So, onward I trudged into an abyss of ethics, of thoughts of what Aristotle would have done. Clearly, in his Nicomachean Ethics writings, he touches on the virtue of making the right decisions. “Aristotle says that the virtuous person decides on virtuous action for it’s own sake.” (Pg. 322) This description is beautiful in that he touches on the fact that there are people that might not be so virtuous, but the decisions they make everyday, can help them to be more virtuous, just by the action of deciding virtuou

I believe that our human nature makes us prefer the ‘easy way out.’ Much less intellectual growth goes along with that choice. Our surroundings make us want other people to solve our problems, with as little work on our part as possible. “How much easier it would have been to have taken a paper written on a moral dilemma, and changed it to fit my own needs.” I kept telling myself. “You’ve run out of time.” I kept telling myself, “there’s got to be an easier way.” All of this ‘rationalization’ of cheating left me with an insight into what I wanted others to know me as. Did I want people to view me as a self-indulgent person, too busy with her own want’s and desires to complete a paper that would ultimately make me a more knowledgeable person? Or, did I want others to view me as an insensitive person that was seen as a self-involved person, too inward-facing to see the ultimate betterment of myself? I thought not! That was the problem. I want others to view me as a person practicing temperance, not excessive bad planning behavior.

I decided to practice what Aristotle would have done. I thought the courageous thing to do would be to write a paper filled with the study of contemplative, intellectual virtues, therefore demonstrating virtuous behavior through Aristotle’s belief that one of the three types of life should be contemplative study. This life experience helped me improve my intellectual virtues. Through acting this way, I felt that I was setting myself up for success. The only road should be the virtuous one. In doing the right

Some topics in this essay:
Nicomachean Ethics, Plato’s Republic, Dilemma Plagiarism, intellectual virtues, complete paper, knowledge gained doing, accused stealing, kept telling, write paper, gained doing, virtuous action, knowledge gained,