ABSTRACT
This chapter contains a very brief introduction to virtue theory, followed by a thought experiment. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. The consequentialist says that people ought to fix what is good, and this will help them decide which actions are right: namely, those which maximize the amount of that good. The deontologist on the other hand says that people should decide which actions are right and wrong irrespective of consequences. The other main theory in normative ethics claims that both of these approaches are wrong. These are explained with the thought experiment which presents a case a person is seriously ill in hospital. He is visited every week by two friends. The questions are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to thought experiment.
