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AbstractThe present article sets out to defend the thesis that among the more or less familiar enemies or challenges an adequate theory of virtue has to cope with is another, less obvious one – virtue ethics itself. The project of establishing virtue ethics as a third paradigm of normative ethics at eye level with consequentialism and deontological approaches to ethics threatens to distort not just our ethical thinking but the theory of virtue itself. A theory of virtue that is able to meet the demands of a full-blown virtue ethics necessarily has to face three fundamental dilemmas and thus seems to fail as an adequate theory of virtue. Andvice versa: An ontologically and normatively viable theory of virtue will be unsuited to provide a promising starting point for virtue ethics as the "third kid on the block" among the options of self-standing paradigms of normative ethics.

In political theory, the word virtue usually refers to the disposition or character traits appropriate to a citizen. Someone who takes the responsibilities of citizenship seriously, to the point of putting the common good ahead of his or her personal interests, is thus said to display civic virtue. Political theorists have frequently warned that such virtue cannot be taken for granted, however, and many of them have urged that steps be taken to promote or foster civic virtue. This concern for the fragility of civic virtue is a clear theme in ancient (or classical) political thought, but it has also played an important part in modern and contemporary political theory.

Since the 1960s, the virtues have been making a comeback in various fields of study. This book offers an overview of the history of virtues from Plato to Nietzsche, discusses the philosophy and psychology of virtues, and analyzes different applications of virtue in epistemology, positive psychology, ethics, and politics. (Publisher)

In the United States, increasing uneasiness exists about the predominance of self-interest in both public and private life, growing fear about the fragmentation and privatization of American society, mounting concerns about the effects of institutions--ranging from families to schools to the media--on the character of young people, and a renewed tendency to believe that without certain traditional virtues neither public leaders nor public policies are likely to succeed. In this thirty-fourth volume in The American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy series, a distinguished group of international scholars from a range of disciplines examines what is meant by "virtue," analyzing various historical and analytical meanings of virtue, notions of liberal virtue, civic virtue, and judicial virtue, and the nature of secular and theological virtue.

Preface; Introduction; 1. Moral Philosophy and Contemporary Virtue Ethics; 2. Origins of Contemporary Virtue Ethics; 3. All Anscombe's Children?; 4. Contemporary Virtue Ethics and Its Aspirations; 5. Aristotle's Ethics and Contemporary Virtue Ethics; 6. Anthropology in Aristotelian Ethics; 7. Teleology in Artisotelian Ethics; 8. Natural Law in Artistotelian Ethics; 9. Virtue Ethics, After and Before; Bibliography; Index.

What are the virtues? -- Ends matter: virtues attain good ends or effects -- Motives matter: virtues require good motives -- Vice and failures of virtue -- Virtue, right action, and knowledge -- Virtue and living well -- How can we acquire the virtues?

Julia Annas offers a new account of virtue and happiness as central ethical ideas. She argues that exercising a virtue involves practical reasoning of the kind we find in someone exercising an everyday practical skill, such as farming, building, or playing the piano. This helps us to see virtue as part of an agent's happiness or flourishing.