A young man meets a wonderful
girl in his senior year in college. He believes this is the one that he might
marry in the future. He is deeply in love with her. He has a problem. After
leaving the constraints of parental authority at home, he went wild as a party
animal at college. He was very sexually active in his freshman and sophomore
years at college. During that time, he caught genital herpes. (Hint: Think about the following: Were these acts virtuous and honest? To
whom? Is the individual responsible for his actions?)
His sister goes to the same
college and is friends with her brother’s girlfriend as well as being close to
her brother. She knows he has genital herpes. She does not want to hurt him or
the relationship but she wonders if she should tell her brother’s girlfriend
about her brother’s condition. (Hint: Think about the following: What would be the virtuous and honest thing
to do in your own mind? Does the sister have a different relationship and/or
responsibility to the girlfriend than the brother? What is the overlap of these
relationships? What is the responsibility of the sister to each? What
consequences might be expected? Are vices of lack and vices of excess
evident?)
Answer the following four
questions in your assignment response. Please read all four questions
before beginning. After you have finished answering the four questions,
read the new development and answer question 5.
1.
Discuss the following case in
terms of virtue, non-malfeasance, and honesty. Can you identify examples of each
(or their opposites) in the case study as written? Where and by whom? Explain
your answers. Please do not get emotionally or personally involved with
“finger pointing.” Stay focused on virtue, non-malfeasance, and
honesty.
2.
How should each person in
the case (brother and sister) handle his or her situation moving
forward? Explain how non-malfeasance and virtue come into play. For
example, what should the sister do and why? The brother? The
girlfriend? In your answer, discuss the concepts of “no harm” and
“honesty.”
3.
In your opinion, can virtues
or moral values conflict with each other? Do non-malfeasance and honesty
conflict? Whether you answer yes or no, explain your answer.
4.
How can the concepts of
“excellence” and the “golden mean” be applied to this case? What might it look
like for each person in the case to act according to the golden mean? In your
answer, discuss the relationship between excellence and the golden mean.
New
Development: The sister learns that
her brother has decided not to tell his girlfriend until much later if they
become serious and he has an outbreak. He also asks his sister to promise to
keep his secret. (Hint: Think about what the
sister should do now. How do virtue, non-malfeasance, and honesty come into
play?)
5. Considering your answers in questions 1 –
4 above, consider how the “new development” might change your answers. What
should the sister do now?
Remember: address the questions from the position of
virtue, non-malfeasance, and honesty, not from an emotional response.
Submit your response to the
questions in Part I and II in a cohesive 2–3-page (500–750-word) Microsoft Word
document to theM1: Assignment 3Drop box.
All written assignments and
responses should follow rules for attributing sources. Be sure to use Microsoft
Word spelling/grammar check before submitting your work.
