4.2) Perspective of the Virtuous Stoic

For Emmet Brown, the edict to "act virtuously" likely provides little consolation and creates immediate conflict. He finds himself caught between the need to fulfill conflicting virtues: honesty to the customers of BiffCo and concern for the well-being of his coworkers and superiors, as well as a duty to support the success of his company. Clearly, hiding the potential failure of the air traffic control system represents a dishonest action not just against the FAA, but also against any members of the public involved in the testing process. Meanwhile, the virtues tying him to his company are somewhat harder to pin down, though the duty to work together with his team and the virtue in obeying the instructions of his superiors, specifically Mr. McFly, are valid considerations.

Since virtue ethics emphasizes solely adherence to general positive moral traits without attention to the ultimate outcome of decisions, the consequences of each scenario are not a primary concern in Emmet's decision (Hursthouse). Virtue ethics concerns itself only with the question of whether a given decision reflects upstanding character (Hursthouse). Ultimately, a virtue ethicist, while not denying Emmet's virtue in supporting his company, would likely favor the much more clear-cut virtuous action of telling the truth to some authority, likely the FAA, about the fault in the software.

As a subclass of virtue ethics, it makes sense that a stoic ethicist approaching this dilemma would arrive at the same dilemma. Stoicism focuses on the performance of "proper actions" that are in accordance with one's nature, implying that they may be guided by ones feelings about a reaction to a dilemma, as long as these reactions are not excessive impulses (Baltzly). Emmet's initial unease at deceiving the FAA indicates that his "proper" course of action may be to inform on his company. However, Stoicism generally provides less guidance on precisely what actions are correct than pure virtue ethics and serves more as a guide for conducting oneself. Therefore, a Stoic interpretation could potentially suggest Emmet go in either direction, depending on what he feels to be the correct action based on a logical analysis.

Sources

Baltzly, Dirk, "Stoicism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/stoicism/>.

Hursthouse, Rosalind and Pettigrove, Glen, "Virtue Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/ethics-virtue/>.

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