Really Naturalizin virtue

A plausible naturalistic virtue ethics requires a plausible naturalistic account of virtue. One way of naturalizing virtue is to give an account of the virtues as those traits that enable realization of the ends of creatures like us. However, three important concerns threaten the theoretical adequac...

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Main Author: Stephen Brown
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2005-01-01
Series:Ethic@: an International Journal for Moral Philosophy
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ethic/article/view/14807
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author Stephen Brown
author_facet Stephen Brown
author_sort Stephen Brown
collection DOAJ
description A plausible naturalistic virtue ethics requires a plausible naturalistic account of virtue. One way of naturalizing virtue is to give an account of the virtues as those traits that enable realization of the ends of creatures like us. However, three important concerns threaten the theoretical adequacy of the view. (1) It appears that the fact of human variability entails that there is no human lifeform comparable to that of other living things. (2) It appears that, even if there is a human lifeform, this notion essentially involves a problematic concept of normality. And (3) human beings differ from other types of organisms in that they can set their own ends. I argue that naturalized virtue ethics can meet these concerns and therefore has a more than decent chance as a plausible form of ethical naturalism. However, in examining the theory we are led to a more modest understanding of what the ambitions of this kind of ethical naturalism ought to be.
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spelling doaj-art-ff45d00199f14d0d8c6e8d158a0270152025-08-20T01:48:38ZengUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaEthic@: an International Journal for Moral Philosophy1677-29542005-01-014111957Really Naturalizin virtueStephen BrownA plausible naturalistic virtue ethics requires a plausible naturalistic account of virtue. One way of naturalizing virtue is to give an account of the virtues as those traits that enable realization of the ends of creatures like us. However, three important concerns threaten the theoretical adequacy of the view. (1) It appears that the fact of human variability entails that there is no human lifeform comparable to that of other living things. (2) It appears that, even if there is a human lifeform, this notion essentially involves a problematic concept of normality. And (3) human beings differ from other types of organisms in that they can set their own ends. I argue that naturalized virtue ethics can meet these concerns and therefore has a more than decent chance as a plausible form of ethical naturalism. However, in examining the theory we are led to a more modest understanding of what the ambitions of this kind of ethical naturalism ought to be.https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ethic/article/view/14807
spellingShingle Stephen Brown
Really Naturalizin virtue
Ethic@: an International Journal for Moral Philosophy
title Really Naturalizin virtue
title_full Really Naturalizin virtue
title_fullStr Really Naturalizin virtue
title_full_unstemmed Really Naturalizin virtue
title_short Really Naturalizin virtue
title_sort really naturalizin virtue
url https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ethic/article/view/14807
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenbrown reallynaturalizinvirtue