Exploring LLM chatbots as potential guides to virtue ethics: limits and possibilities, with a case study on euthanasia

This paper explores Søren Kierkegaard's engagement with virtue ethics. While valuing Aristotle's focus on moral character and practical wisdom, Kierkegaard advanced virtue ethics further. He critiqued the clergy of his time for their hypocrisy, imagining replacing untrustworthy priests with machines delivering sermons and ethical guidance. Revisiting this thought experiment in light of LLMs, the paper explores the role of Kierkegaard’s insights in the discourse on ethical guidance, illustrating how LLM chatbots might support ethical reflections while highlighting their limitations and the necessity of human consciousness in ethical decision-making. Ethical debates on assisted dying and euthanasia serve as a case study.