Values, Virtue, and the Misunderstood Concept of Sacrifice
The following discussion concerns itself with the concept of values, and how values relate to virtue and sacrifice in the larger context of proper ethical behavior. The definition of terms is taken from Random House Webster’s American Dictionary. While there is more than one definition for these terms the definitions selected are limited specifically to the scope of this discussion. Ethics – 1) a system of moral principals. 2) the branch of philosophy dealing with right and wrong. Values – the abstract concepts of what is right or good. Virtue – moral excellence Sacrifice – the giving up of something of value for the sake of something else. Ethics are principals that are generally held by society to be both moral and just. If properly determined a moral principal will by definition be just, and right. Within the larger discipline of philosophy ethics is the branch that studies right and wrong as the concepts relate to the individual man and his interaction with others in soci...