Question

Look closely at the song "Who am I?" and make a case for what kind of ethics Jean Valjean is using to work through his difficult moral decision. Is he a Utilitarian? A Kantian? A Virtue Ethicist?

Answer 1

Jean Valjean is a character from Les Miserables. And the song "Who am I?" comes from Jan Valjean's dilemma of whether or not he should save an innocent man from life-long imprisonment by confessing that in reality, he is the culprit that he innocent man is mistaken for.

Jean Valjean reflects the deontological or the Kantian theory in the initials of the song when he is considering to send the innocent man to jail for the sake of his work and the welfare of his workers. He is giving primordial importance to his duty rather than the goal that would be achieved out of this decision. Quoting from the song, "I am the master of hundreds of workers;
they all look to me; How can I abandon them? How would they live if I am not free?" Thus, we can clearly spot a glimpse of the deontological theory.

Moreover, when he mentions "hundreds of workers," we can also see that the utilitarian approach can be applied to that line. That's because one is looking at benefitting all the hundreds of people that constitute the majority. Saving the life of Jean Valjean is in connection with saving the majority of the people. Thus, the utilitarian form of a moral decision can also be seen.

The final decision of Jean Valjean comes out in the form of the Virtue Ethicist theory. Though we get a glimpse of the other two theories as well, the major decision is based on the Virtue theory of Ethics because it reflects the moral principle of the character. The virtues of Jean Valjean have pushed him to take the decision of confronting the jury and revealing his true identity irrespective of the consequences. It's not the Kantian theory because it's not his duty to go about this way. It's not the Utilitarian because the majority is at the loss. Thus, it can be perfectly a virtuously Ethicist decision to go as per his moral principles irrespective of the consequence.