Rosa's Ethics Ever Since December Term Paper

The most convincing interpretation might be that, as she contended, she did not foresee the consequences. Parks stated that "it was not a time for me to be planning to get arrested." (Reader 2005). So, if she was not considering the consequences, then she was not thinking rationally; if she was not thinking rationally, according to Aristotle, then she was not behaving virtuously. Since we should probably use Parks' own words as the best evidence, we should conclude that Aristotle would not consider her a particularly virtuous individual.

Confucius, alternatively, maintained that all human morality was held together by a single concept: ren, or natural humanistic love. Simply put, ren is a love and respect for all things human. To Confucius, a person can only achieve ren if they undergo an attainment of knowledge to the point where they reach a workable grasp of the place for each form of love. The rituals and education that bring about knowledge is li; the ultimate form of li is yi -- the highest principle governing the adoption of li. So, "The superior man, in the world, does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow." (Confucius IV, 10). From such a standpoint, Parks' indecisiveness with respect to the result of her action is inconsequential.Since she had already demonstrated her social awareness and humanly love by her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, it is likely that Confucius would consider her to be virtuous; her seemingly benign act of justifiable defiance was performed in accordance with yi, though she may have lacked the opportunity to reflect upon the consequences.

Personally, I am inclined to agree with Confucius. First, the position of the consequentialists is highly questionable in nearly every case imaginable. Second, although Aristotle's notion of virtue is not without merit, his division of spiritual happiness from bodily happiness is not wholly convincing. This is because there is little direct evidence to suggest that non-substantive happiness of the soul comes from rationality; also, people may not have time to critically reflect upon all of their actions and may, in fact, act impulsively or subconsciously in certain situations. I am inclined to believe that Rosa Parks acted with a notion of social justice in mind, but never gave serious thought to the notion that she would be arrested or that she would spark such a massive movement. In practical circumstances, she acted as she thought was right within the context of American society.

Works Cited

Confucius. The Analects. Reader 2005.

Ross, David. Aristotle: the….....