Virtue Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy) - Softcover

Van Zyl, Liezl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415836166 ISBN 13: 9780415836166

Publisher: Routledge, 2018

Synopsis

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?

About this title

About the Author

Liezl van Zyl is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. She works primarily in ethics, in particular virtue ethics and applied ethics.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415836166
• ISBN 13: 9780415836166
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 248