On Virtue Ethics

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In 1966, Hursthouse (as Rosalind Mary Hursthouse) went up to the University of Oxford to read for the BPhil (1968) on a postgraduate scholarship, [8] going on to read for the DPhil (1974) at Somerville College while working as Stipendiary Lecturer in Philosophy at Corpus Christi College, making her the first woman to teach at an all men’s college in Oxford. [9] [10] [11] While Hursthouse has applied virtue ethics to practical issues in Beginning Lives and Ethics, Humans, and Other Animals, her most important contribution to philosophy is On Virtue Ethics. In the first section, she shows how neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics provides action guidance and illuminates ethical dilemmas. In the second section, Hursthouse offers the first virtue-based account of acting "from a sense of duty," bringing out the significance of moral emotions. In the third and final section, she considers the question, "Which character traits are the virtues?" This is the most controversial and widely-discussed part of her book. Hursthouse's answer is that the virtues are the character traits which tend to not only benefit their possessor but also, relatedly, make their possessor a good human being — based, in part, on quasi-scientific "ethical but non‐evaluative beliefs about human nature and how human life goes" (" Plato's Requirement on the Virtues"). [1]

Rachels, S. (2011). Vegetarianism. In T. Beauchamp & R. Frey (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of animal ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Knutsson, S., & Munthe, C. (2017). A virtue of precaution regarding the moral status of animals with uncertain sentience. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 30, 213–224. I am very pleased with the efficiency and professionalism of The Pension Planner, and would recommend them highly. Kittay, E. (2010). The personal is philosophical is political: A philosopher and mother of a cognitively disabled person sends notes from the battlefield. In E. Kittay & L. Carlson (Eds.), Cognitive disability and its challenge to moral philosophy. New York: Wiley.Field T, Woodson R et al (1982) Discrimination and imitation of facial expressions by neonates. Science 218:179–181

It is important to recognize that moral character develops over a long period of time. People are born with all sorts of natural tendencies. Some of these natural tendencies will be positive, such as a placid and friendly nature, and some will be negative, such as an irascible and jealous nature. These natural tendencies can be encouraged and developed or discouraged and thwarted by the influences one is exposed to when growing up. There are a number of factors that may affect one’s character development, such as one’s parents, teachers, peer group, role-models, the degree of encouragement and attention one receives, and exposure to different situations. Our natural tendencies, the raw material we are born with, are shaped and developed through a long and gradual process of education and habituation.Hursthouse, R. (2012). Human nature and Aristotelian virtue ethics. In C. Sandis & M. J. Cain (Eds.), Human nature (Royal Institute of Philosophy supplement) (Vol. 70, pp. 169–188). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Raising objections to other normative theories and defining itself in opposition to the claims of others, was the first stage in the development of virtue ethics. Virtue ethicists then took up the challenge of developing full fledged accounts of virtue that could stand on their own merits rather than simply criticize consequentialism and deontology. These accounts have been predominantly influenced by the Aristotelian understanding of virtue. While some virtue ethics take inspiration from Plato’s, the Stoics’, Aquinas’, Hume’s and Nietzsche’s accounts of virtue and ethics, Aristotelian conceptions of virtue ethics still dominate the field. There are three main strands of development for virtue ethics: Eudaimonism, agent-based theories and the ethics of care. a. Eudaimonism Alvaro, C. (2017a). Ethical veganism, virtue, and greatness of the soul. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 30(6), 765–781.

Lipscomb, Benjamin J.B. (2022). The Women Are Up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics The Women Are Up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics. Oxford University Press. pp.171–199. ISBN 978-0197541074. Passed away on Thursday 9th June, 2022 aged 91 years. The Funeral service and Interment will take place at Tithe Green Burial Ground on Monday 4th July, 2022 at 2.00 p.m. By request Family flowers only please, but if desired, donations made payable to the 'Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust' may be sent to C. Terry Funeral Services, 244, Bulwell High Road, Bulwell, Nottingham. NG6. 8NU. Telephone 0115 977 0866 A donation box will also be available on the day of the service. Lott, M. (2014). Why be a good human being? Natural goodness, reason, and the authority of human nature. Philosophia, 42(3), 761–777. After Hume's Justice", which offered a neo-Aristotelian account of social justice that was deeply influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Hursthouse argues that a modern political philosophy that prioritises the good — virtue and human flourishing — over the right, and takes ethics to be prior to, and continuous with, politics, can nevertheless accommodate individual human rights. [16]While at Somerville, Hursthouse was mentored by Elizabeth Anscombe and Philippa Foot, both of whom would become for her lifelong friends and sources of philosophical inspiration. [12] Career [ edit ]