Introduction to Virtue Ethics: Insights of the Ancient Greeks

208 Pages·2002·9.55 MB·English

by  Raymond J. Devettere

Introduction to Virtue Ethics
Insights of the Ancient Greeks

Introduction to Virtue Ethics
Insights of the Ancient Greeks
RAYMOND J. DE VETTERE
Georgetown University Press / Washington, D.C.
Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C.
© 2002 by Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 2002
This volume is printed on acid-free offset book paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Devettere, Raymond J.
Introduction to virtue ethics : insights of the ancient Greeks / Raymond J.
Devettere.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87840-372-8 (pbk : alk. paper)
1. Ethics, Ancient. 2. Virute—History. 3. Prudence—History.
4. Ethics—Greece—History. I. Title.
BJ171.V55 D48 2002
170'.938—dc21 2002023630
For Paula

Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE: DESIRE, HAPPINESS, AND VIRTUE
CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGIN OF ETHICS
Desires and Impulses
Do People Have Nonrational Desires?
Two Objections
Desires, Impulses, and Good Things
Self-interest and the Good
The Overriding Good
Plato and the Overriding Good
Aristotle and the Overriding Good
Summary of the Starting Point (the ArcheJ of Greek Virtue Ethics
CHAPTER 2 HAPPINESS
The Greatest Good Is Happiness
The Prephilosophical Notion of Happiness
The Prephilosophical Definitions of Happiness
Transforming the Prephilosophical Definitions of Happiness
The Philosophical Criteria for Happiness
Is There a Philosophical Definition of Happiness?
CHAPTER 3 CHARACTER VIRTUE
Prephilosophical Ideas about Virtue
Philosophical Conception of Virtue
Three Important Distinctions in Virtue Ethics
Nature of the Authentic Character Virtues
The Number of Character Virtues
Pride, the Forgotten Character Virtue
The Unity of Virtue
PART TWO: PRUDENCE AND CHARACTER VIRTUE
CHAPTER 4 PRUDENCE IN SOCRATES
AND PLATO
Wisdom and Prudence in the Socratic Dialogues
Xenophon's Account of Socrates' Deliberations
Prudence in the Republic
Prudence in the Philebus
Prudence in the Statesman
Prudence in the Laws
CHAPTER 5 PRUDENCE IN ARISTOTLE l
Prudence in the Rhetoric
Prudence and Authentic Character Virtue
Prudence and Autonomy
Prudence and Prudent People (the phronimoij
Prudence and Laws
Character Virtue without Prudence?
CHAPTER 6 PRUDENCE IN STOICISM 1
Prudence and Stoic Determinism
Prudence as a Skill
Prudence and the Right Disposition [diathesis]
Contents ix
Prudence in Panaetius
The Stoic Sage (sophosj
GLOSSARY 139
SELECTED GREEK VIRTUE ETHICISTS l 51
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY 155
BIBLIOGRAPHY 174
INDEX 185