Abstract

An account of character is developed on the basis of Ricoeur's philosophy of the will. Particular attention is paid to the role of the bodily involuntary in the process of character-formation. This augments the interpretation of the moral meaning of sanctification developed by Hauerwas. When interpreted in light of corporeality, sanctification entails not only a perceptual transformation but also an affective change in the agent's value orientation, the competent retraining of the agent's emotions, and the gracious triggering of an adoptive disposition toward the agent's incarnate situation. Finally, the rootedness of character in embodiment, with the attendant problem of automatism, indicates the limits of the usefulness of an "ethics of character" for moral theology.