What's Aristotelian about neo‐Aristotelian Virtue Ethics?

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 98 (3):671-696 (2019)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

It is commonly assumed that Aristotle's ethical theory shares deep structural similarities with neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics. I argue that this assumption is a mistake, and that Aristotle's ethical theory is both importantly distinct from the theories his work has inspired, and independently compelling. I take neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics to be characterized by two central commitments: (i) virtues of character are defined as traits that reliably promote an agent's own flourishing, and (ii) virtuous actions are defined as the sorts of actions a virtuous agent reliably performs under the relevant circumstances. I argue that neither of these commitments are features of Aristotle's own view, and I sketch an alternative explanation for the relationship between virtue and happiness in the Nicomachean Ethics. Although, on the interpretation I defend, we do not find in Aristotle a distinctive normative theory alongside deontology and consequentialism, what we do find is a way of thinking about how prudential and moral reasons can come to be aligned through a certain conception of practical agency.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

How Aristotelians Can Make Faith a Virtue.Anne Jeffrey - 2017 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 20 (2):393-409.
Neo-Aristotelianism.Rosalind Hursthouse - 1999 - In Nigel Warburton, Philosophy: Basic Readings. New York: Routledge. pp. 110-122.
Diverse Environments, Diverse People.Matthew J. Barker - 2019 - In C. Tyler DesRoches, Frank Jankunis & Byron Williston, Canadian Environmental Philosophy. Mcgill-Queen's University Press. pp. 99-122.
The Self-Absorption Objection and Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics.Jeff D’Souza - 2018 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 92 (4):641-668.
Against Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics: The Humean Challenge.Lorenzo Greco - 2018 - Teoria: Rivista di Filosofia Fondata da Vittorio Sainati 38 (2):123-33.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-05-26

Downloads
2,934 (#3,899)

6 months
487 (#3,631)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Sukaina Hirji
University of Pennsylvania

Citations of this work

Leibniz as a virtue ethicist.Hao Dong - 2024 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 109 (2):505-527.
Aristotle for the Modern Ethicist.Sophia Connell - 2019 - Ancient Philosophy Today 1 (2):192-214.
The Fundamental Divisions in Ethics.Matthew Hammerton - 2025 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 68 (2):318-341.

View all 8 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Ethics without principles.Jonathan Dancy - 2004 - New York: Oxford University Press.
On Virtue Ethics.Rosalind Hursthouse - 1999 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Unprincipled virtue: an inquiry into moral agency.Nomy Arpaly - 2003 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Virtue and Reason.John McDowell - 1979 - The Monist 62 (3):331-50.

View all 116 references / Add more references