Virtue Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction

1.49 MB·english

by  Liezl van Zyl

Virtue Ethics
Thisvolumeprovidesaclearandaccessibleoverviewofcentralconcepts,positions,
and arguments in virtue ethics today. While it focuses primarily on Aristotelian
virtue ethics, it also includes discussion of alternative forms of virtue ethics (senti-
mentalism and pluralism) and competing normative theories (consequentialism
anddeontology).
The first six chapters are organized around central questions in normative ethics
that areofparticularconcerntovirtueethicists andtheircritics:
(cid:1) What isvirtueethics?
(cid:1) What makesatrait avirtue?
(cid:1) Istherea linkbetweenvirtueandhappiness?
(cid:1) What isinvolvedinbeingwell-motivated?
(cid:1) What ispracticalwisdom?
(cid:1) What makesanaction right?
Thelastfourchaptersfocusonimportantchallengesorobjectionstovirtueethics:
(cid:1) Canvirtueethics beappliedtoparticular moralproblems?
(cid:1) Doesvirtueethics ultimatelyrelyonmoralprinciples?
(cid:1) Canitwithstandthesituationist critique?
(cid:1) What aretheprospectsfor anenvironmentalvirtueethics?
Liezl van Zyl is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Universityof Waikato, New
Zealand. She works primarily in ethics, in particular virtue ethics and applied
ethics.
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Virtue Ethics
A Contemporary Introduction
Liezl van Zyl
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Contents
Preface viii
Acknowledgements x
Plan of the Book xi
1 Virtue Ethics 1
1.1 Normative Theory 1
1.2 Consequentialism and Deontology 3
1.3 The Emergence of Virtue Ethics 5
1.4 Virtue Theory 9
1.5 Virtue Ethics 12
1.6 Varieties of Virtue Ethics 13
Chapter Summary 16
2 Virtue 19
2.1 An Aristotelian Theory 20
2.2 A Sentimentalist Theory 24
2.3 A Pluralistic Theory 26
2.4 A Consequentialist Theory 29
2.5 A Kantian Theory 31
Chapter Summary 33
3 Virtue and Happiness 37
3.1 The Concept of Eudaimonia 38
3.2 Different Conceptions of Eudaimonia 40
3.3 Eudaimonistic Virtue Ethics 44
3.4 Objections to Eudaimonistic Virtue Ethics 53
Chapter Summary 57
vi Contents
4 Virtuous Motives 59
4.1 Aristotle and Kant on Pleasure and Self-Control 60
4.2 An Aristotelian View of Reason and Inclination 63
4.3 The Role of Emotion in Motivation 65
4.4 The Commitment to Morality 68
4.5 A Consequentialist View of Motivation 71
Chapter Summary 75
5 Practical Wisdom 77
5.1 What Is Practical Wisdom? An Aristotelian View 78
5.2 Consequentialism and the Virtue of Modesty 86
5.3 Pluralistic Virtue Ethics and the Disunity of Virtue 90
5.4 Sentimentalist Virtue Ethics, Practical Wisdom, and the
Impossibility of Perfection 93
Chapter Summary 95
6 Virtue and Right Action 98
6.1 Eliminativism 98
6.2 A Qualified-Agent Account of Right Action 101
6.3 An Agent-Based Account of Right Action 108
6.4 A Target-Centered Account of Right Action 115
Chapter Summary 122
7 Applying Virtue Ethics 124
7.1 Virtue Ethics and Action Guidance 124
7.2 Codifiability: D-rules and V-rules 127
7.3 Virtue Ethics and Abortion 131
7.4 The Demands of Virtue 136
7.5 The Problem of Moral Narcissism 141
Chapter Summary 143
8 Virtue-ethical Particularism 145
8.1 Moral Generalism 146
8.2 Moral Particularism 148
8.3 Aristotle on Practical Wisdom and Moral
Principles 150
8.4 A Challenge for Virtue Ethics 153
8.5 Virtue-ethical Particularism: A Radical Version 155
Contents vii
8.6 Virtue-ethical Particularism: A Weaker Version 159
Chapter Summary 163
9 The Situationist Critique 166
9.1 Personality and Character in Social Psychology 167
9.2 The Situationist Experiments 169
9.3 The Situationist Critique 1: The Existence of Character
Traits 173
9.4 Responses and Reactions 177
9.5 The Situationist Critique 2: Practical Rationality 186
9.6 An Empirically Grounded Virtue Theory 189
Chapter Summary 193
10 Virtue and Environmental Ethics 196
10.1 What Is Environmental Virtue Ethics? 197
10.2 Which Traits Are Environmental Virtues? 199
10.3 What Makes a Trait an Environmental Virtue? 203
10.4 Virtue Ethics and Utilitarianism: Trophy Hunting 205
10.5 Virtue Ethics and Deontology: Respect for Nature 209
10.6 The Situationist Critique of Environmental Virtue
Ethics 214
Chapter Summary 216
Bibliography 219
Index 230
Preface
I first became interested in the virtues as a graduate student in the 1990s,
whilewriting athesis onend-of-life decision-making. Iwaspuzzled tofind
that although terms such as compassion, mercy, and kindness featured
prominently in the public discourse about the morality of euthanasia and
physician-assisted suicide, debates in bioethics proceeded almost exclusively
in terms of moral rules and principles. The dominant view, even among
ethicists who thought the virtues were important, was that virtue ethics
cannotstandonitsownasacompletenormativetheory,andthatthevirtues
needed to be supplemented with a set of rules or principles. Roughly, the
generalconsensuswasthatitwouldofcoursebewonderfulfor medicalpro-
fessionals to be more compassionate and caring, but that their first priority
must be to fulfill their duties to patients. Accordingly, a particular act of
euthanasia could well be compassionate but wrong because it violates the
dutynottokillaninnocentperson.
Since then, leading figures in the field, including Philippa Foot, Julia
Annas, Rosalind Hursthouse, Christine Swanton, and Michael Slote, have
shown that virtue ethics should be taken seriously as an alternative to
deontology and consequentialism. Over the last two or three decades the
literature on virtue ethics has grown substantially. This is most obvious in
the fields of normative and applied ethics, but the interest in the virtues
has also spread to other areas, such as metaethics, epistemology, philoso-
phy of education, philosophy of psychology, and theology. The inevitable
resultisthatnewcomersencountersignificantdifficultyindecidingwhatto
read and where to start. Much of the literature is inaccessible, usually
because the author presupposes a familiarity with key concepts and
debates.
The aim of this book is to introduce readers to central concepts and
questions in contemporary virtue ethics. I focus on Aristotelian virtue
ethics, given that it is by far the most popular version, but I pay a fair
amountofattentiontoalternativeversionsofvirtueethics(sentimentalism
and pluralism), as well as two rival normative theories (consequentialism
and deontology), inparticular their accountsof virtue and theirobjections
Preface ix
to virtue ethics. Given limitations of space as well as expertise, I had to
leave out a number of important and interesting questions and develop-
ments. Of particular note in this regard is the growing interest in Eastern
philosophies in which virtue plays an important role, such as Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Hinduism. Other research areas that deserve mention
focus on questions about the role of virtue in moral education, the nature
and possibility of moral self-cultivation, the role of virtue in political phi-
losophy, and the merits of Aristotelian naturalism. It is my hope that the
book will help prepare readers to explore these areas on their own.