The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics

381 Pages·2013·1.555 MB·English

by  Daniel C. Russell

the cambridge companion to
VIRTUE ETHICS
Virtue ethics has emerged from a rich history to become
one of the fastest-growing fields in contemporary ethics.
In this volume of newly commissioned essays, leading
moralphilosophersofferacomprehensiveoverviewofvirtue
ethics. They examine the theoretical structure of virtue
ethicsanditsplaceincontemporarymoraltheory,aswellas
thehistoryofvirtue-basedapproachestoethics,whatmakes
these approaches distinctive, what they can say about spe-
cific practical issues, and where we can expect them to go
inthefuture.ThisCompanionwillbeusefultostudentsof
virtue ethics and the history of ethics, and to others who
wanttounderstandhowvirtueethicsischangingthefaceof
contemporarymoralphilosophy.
danielc.russellisProfessorofPhilosophyattheCenterfor
the Philosophy of Freedom and the Department of Philoso-
phy,UniversityofArizona,andthePercySeymourReaderin
AncientHistoryandPhilosophyatOrmondCollege,Univer-
sityofMelbourne.HeistheauthorofPlatoonPleasureand
theGoodLife(2005),PracticalIntelligenceandtheVirtues
(2009),andHappinessforHumans(2012).

othervolumesintheseriesofcambridgecompanions
ABELARD Editedbyjeffrey e. browerand
kevin guilfoy
ADORNO Editedbythomas huhn
ANCIENT SCEPTICISM Editedbyrichard bett
ANSELM Editedbybrian daviesandbrian leftow
AQUINAS Editedbynorman kretzmannand
eleonore stump
ARABIC PHILOSOPHY Editedbypeter adamsonand
richard c. taylor
HANNAH ARENDT Editedbydana villa
ARISTOTLE Editedbyjonathan barnes
ATHEISM Editedbymichael martin
AUGUSTINE Editedbyeleonore stumpand
norman kretzmann
BACON Editedbymarkku peltonen
BERKELEY Editedbykenneth p. winkler
BOETHIUS Editedbyjohn marenbon
BRENTANO Editedbydale jacquette
CARNAP Editedbymichael friedman
CONSTANT Editedbyhelena rosenblatt
CRITICAL THEORY Editedbyfred rush
DARWIN 2nd edition Editedbyjonathan hodgeand
gregory radick
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Editedbyclaudia card
DELEUZE Editedbydaniel smithand
henry somers-hall
DESCARTES Editedbyjohn cottingham
DEWEY Editedbymolly cochran
DUNS SCOTUS Editedbythomas williams
EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY Editedbya. a. long
EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY Editedby
donald rutherford
EPICUREANISM Editedbyjames warren
EXISTENTIALISM Editedbysteven crowell
FEMINISM IN PHILOSOPHY Editedby
miranda frickerandjennifer hornsby
FOUCAULT 2nd edition Editedbygary gutting
Continuedatthebackofthebook

The Cambridge Companion to
VIRTUE ETHICS
Edited by Daniel C. Russell
UniversityofArizona
cambridgeuniversitypress
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Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
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p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.339)andindex.
isbn978-1-107-00116-9(hardback)
1.Ethics. 2.Virtue. I.Russell,DanielC.
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contents
List of contributors page ix
Acknowledgments xiii
List of figures xiv
Introduction: virtue ethics in modern moral
philosophy 1
daniel c. russell
1 Virtue ethics, happiness, and the good life 7
daniel c. russell
2 Ancient virtue ethics: an overview with an
emphasis on practical wisdom 29
rachana kamtekar
3 Virtue ethics and the Chinese Confucian
tradition 49
philip j. ivanhoe
4 Virtue ethics in the medieval period 70
jean porter
5 Hume’s anatomy of virtue 92
paul russell
6 The historic decline of virtue ethics 124
dorothea frede
7 Virtue ethics in the twentieth century 149
timothy chappell
vii
viii Contents
8 Virtue ethics and right action 172
liezl van zyl
9 Virtue ethics and bioethics 197
justin oakley
10 Environmental virtue ethics: what it is and what
it needs to be 221
matt zwolinski and david schmidtz
11 The virtue approach to business ethics 240
edwin hartman
12 Virtue and politics 265
mark lebar
13 The situationist critique of virtue ethics 290
gopal sreenivasan
14 The definition of virtue ethics 315
christine swanton
Bibliography 339
Index 363
contributors
timothy chappell is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the
EthicsCentreattheOpenUniversity.Hehaspublishedextensively
onbothancientandcontemporaryethics,andhisbooksincludeAris-
totle and Augustine on Freedom (1995), The Plato Reader (1996),
Understanding Human Goods (1998), Reading Plato’s Theaetetus
(2004), The Inescapable Self (2005), and Ethics and Experience
(2009). He has also edited Philosophy of the Environment (1997),
Human Values (with David Oderberg, 2004), Values and Virtues
(2006),andTheMoralProblemofDemandingness(2009).
dorotheafredeisProfessorEmeritaattheUniversityofHamburg,
and Honorary Professor at Humboldt University, Berlin. Her publi-
cationsincludePlato’sPhilebus(1993),Plato’sPhaedo(1999),Tradi-
tions of Theology (with Andre Laks, 2002), Language and Learning
(with Brad Inwood, 2005), and Body and Soul in Ancient Philoso-
phy(withBurkhardReis,2007),aswellasnumerousarticlesonthe
ethicsofPlato,Aristotle,andHellenisticphilosophers.
edwin hartman taughtintheBusinessSchoolandthePhilosophy
Department at Rutgers University for many years before finishing
hiscareerattheSternSchoolofBusinessatNewYorkUniversity.He
istheauthorofAristotleonSoulandBody(1969),Substance,Body,
and Soul: Aristotelian Investigations (1977), Conceptual Founda-
tionsofOrganizationTheory(1988),andOrganizationalEthicsand
theGoodLife(1996),aswellasnumerousarticlesonancientphilos-
ophyandbusinessethics.HisnewbookonanAristotelianapproach
tobusinessethicswillbepublishedin2013byCambridgeUniversity
Press.
ix