Author: Raymond J. Devettere Publisher: Georgetown University Press ISBN: 9781589018174 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
This fascinating examination of the development of virtue ethics in the early stages of western civilization deals with a wide range of philosophers and schools of philosophy—from Socrates and the Stoics to Plato, Aristotle, and the Epicureans, among others. This introduction examines those human attributes that we have come to know as the "stuff" of virtue: desire, happiness, the "good," character, the role of pride, prudence, and wisdom, and links them to more current or modern conceptions and controversies. The tension between viewing ethics and morality as fundamentally religious or as fundamentally rational still runs deep in our culture. A second tension centers on whether we view morality primarily in terms of our obligations or primarily in terms of our desires for what is good. The Greek term arete, which we generally translate as "virtue," can also be translated as "excellence." Arete embraced both intellectual and moral excellence as well as human creations and achievements. Useful, certainly, for classrooms, Virtue Ethics is also for anyone interested in the fundamental question Socrates posed, "What kind of life is worth living?"
Author: Richard Taylor Publisher: Prometheus Books ISBN: 1615924523 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 144
Book Description
In this fresh evaluation of Western ethics, noted philosopher Richard Taylor argues that philosophy must return to the classical notion of virtue as the basis of ethics. To ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, ethics was chiefly the study of how individuals attain personal excellence, or "virtue," defined as intellectual sophistication, wisdom, strength of character, and creativity. With the ascendancy of the Judeo-Christian ethic, says Taylor, this emphasis on pride of personal worth was lost. Instead, philosophy became preoccupied with defining right and wrong in terms of a divine lawgiver, and the concept of virtue was debased to mean mere obedience to divine law. Even today, in the absence of religious belief, modern thinkers unwittingly continue this legacy by creating hairsplitting definitions of good and evil.Taylor points out that the ancients rightly understood the ultimate concern of ethics to be the search for happiness, a concept that seems to have eluded contemporary society despite unprecedented prosperity and convenience. Extolling Aristotle''s Nicomachean Ethics, Taylor urges us to reread this brilliant and still relevant treatise, especially its emphasis on an ethic of aspiration.
Author: Liezl van Zyl Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135045984 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 425
Book Description
This volume provides a clear and accessible overview of central concepts, 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 (sentimentalism and pluralism) and competing normative theories (consequentialism and deontology). The first six chapters are organized around central questions in normative ethics that are of particular concern to virtue ethicists and their critics: What is virtue ethics? What makes a trait a virtue? Is there a link between virtue and happiness? What is involved in being well-motivated? What is practical wisdom? What makes an action right? The last four chapters focus on important challenges or objections to virtue ethics: Can virtue ethics be applied to particular moral problems? Does virtue ethics ultimately rely on moral principles? Can it withstand the situationist critique? What are the prospects for an environmental virtue ethics?
Author: Aristotle Publisher: ISBN: 9780394309736 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 667
Book Description
This Introduction to Aristotle is a presentation in which Aristotle is permitted to speak for himself in the context of a sketched scheme of the relation of what he says in one treatise to what he says elsewhere. The seven introductions which precede these seven works place them in their contexts by describing their relations to other works or parts of works, their place in the scheme of the Aristotelian sciences, and the fashion in which the subjects treated in the sciences they expound may be considered in the approaches proper to other sciences in the system. - Preface.
Author: Jennifer Welchman Publisher: Hackett Publishing ISBN: 9780872208094 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 266
Book Description
This anthology can be used to cover the virtue ethics component of an ethics course, either in conjunction with one of the larger ethics texts -- many include no material on virtue theory, or very little -- or with free standing editions; as the centrepiece of a course devoted entirely to virtue theory; or as a component of an introductory course that includes a section on ethics. Part 1 includes readings from five classic thinkers with importantly distinct approaches to virtue. Part 2 provides five new essays from contemporary thinkers that apply virtue theories to the resolution of practical moral problems. Jennifer Welchman provides a general Introduction on the history of virtue theory, a short introduction to each selection that highlights the distinctive aspects of the author's view, and suggested further readings for each selection.
Author: Roger Crisp Publisher: ISBN: 0198751885 Category : Abortion Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
This volume brings together much of the most influential work undertaken in the field of virtue ethics over the last four decades. The ethics of virtue predominated in the ancient world, and recent moral philosophy has seen a revival of interest in virtue ethics as a rival to Kantian and utilitarian approaches to morality. Divided into four sections, the collection includes articles critical of other traditions; early attempts to offer a positive vision of virtue ethics; some later criticisms of the revival of virtue ethics; and, finally, some recent, more theoretically ambitious essays in virtue ethics.
Author: Stan van Hooft Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317544773 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 529
Book Description
Virtue ethics has emerged as a distinct field within moral theory - whether as an alternative account of right action or as a conception of normativity which departs entirely from the obligatoriness of morality - and has proved itself invaluable to many aspects of contemporary applied ethics. Virtue ethics now flourishes in philosophy, sociology and theology and its applications extend to law, politics and bioethics. "The Handbook of Virtue Ethics" brings together leading international scholars to provide an overview of the field. Each chapter summarizes and assesses the most important work on a particular topic and sets this work in the context of historical developments. Taking a global approach by embracing a variety of major cultural traditions along with the Western, the "Handbook" maps the emergence of virtue ethics and provides a framework for future developments.
Author: Stephen Mark Gardiner Publisher: ISBN: 9780801443459 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 222
Book Description
"There are grounds for saying that contemporary work in virtue ethics is, if not quite in its theoretical infancy, at least not far out of diapers. And this suggests that we should be gentle and nurturing, allowing it time to flourish before coming to any definitive verdict on its merits. . . . However, it is hard to deny that modern-day virtue ethics is part of a long, sophisticated and fairly continuous tradition. Not only does the approach have origins almost as ancient as philosophy itself, but its history also includes extensive work by such philosophical luminaries as (at least) Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Aquinas, and (perhaps) Hume and Nietzsche. And this suggests that we should already be in a good position to assess its appeal."--from the IntroductionIn Virtue Ethics, Old and New, ten philosophers seek to enrich the contemporary understanding and development of virtue ethics through a detailed examination of some key contributions from its past. Their essays demonstrate the continuing relevance of the history of moral philosophy to contemporary debates.
Author: Raymond J. Devettere
Author: Richard Taylor
Author: Liezl van Zyl
Author: Aristotle
Author: Daniel C. Russell
Author: Jennifer Welchman
Author: Roger Crisp
Author: Paula Gottlieb
Author: Stan van Hooft
Author: Stephen Mark Gardiner