I’m working on a philosophy question and need a sample draft to help me learn.

Instructions

Read the following scenario and provide advice to the individual involved. You need to tell us what a virtue ethicist would recommend doing here. Show your work – do not just tell us what they would recommend doing, explain why, using the moral theory, they would recommend this course of action.

To apply virtue ethics, use the doctrine of the mean, focusing on the virtues and vices involved in this situation. Pick the virtues that you think are most important here, define them, discuss their corresponding vices of excess and deficiency, discuss possible courses of action, then choose the action(s) that best embody the virtues you selected, avoiding vice. The theory is subjective, so you need to choose which virtues receive priority here. What kind of person should the actor strive to be?

“There is a dog in my neighborhood that NEVER stops barking. He is the subject of countless complaints. Where I live there are mediation procedures to follow if a dog is noisy, but the local authorities have minimal actual authority to do anything about it. The worst they can do is tell the owner to try to control their dog, which of course he doesn’t do. I’ve lived on this street for almost 10 years and it has turned my friendly, harmless, mild mannered neighbors into angry, sleep deprived zombies. Recently I discovered that two of the neighbors are plotting to “eliminate” the dog. Most of the other neighbors know about it, but they pretend not to know. The two-people involved researched the law and precedents, and they are certain they won’t be discovered, and if they do, they’ll receive a small fine. Despite being a dog lover, I sympathize with what they want to do—the dog is a real terror around here. But there is a part of me that feels I should warn the owner. What should I do?”