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Virtue Ethics for the Real World

Improving Character without Idealization

Howard J. Curzer (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

264 Seiten

2024
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-032-42548-1 (ISBN)

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In Virtue Ethics for the Real World: Improving Character without Idealization, Howard J. Curzer argues that character ideals seduce virtue ethicists into counterintuitive claims, mislead and psychologically harm people seeking to improve their characters, and sometimes become tools for exploitation. Curzer offers a theory of Aristotelian virtue ethics that eschews idealization and that harmonizes with common sense. To explain the many dilemmas of ordinary life, he allows that different virtues sometimes enjoin incompatible actions and even enjoin actions that conflict with duty. Curzer defends the doctrine of the mean, arguing that idealized traits such as unilateral forgiveness, universal civility, unconditional commitments, and unlimited generosity are not virtues. He shows that the reciprocity of virtues doctrine depends upon idealization and rejects it.

When undergirding his theory, Curzer wears several hats. He is a eudaimonist when grounding virtue, a constructivist when grounding value, and a perspectivist (a la Nietzsche) when grounding virtuous action.

How can people improve without aiming at an ideal? Curzer offers an individualized approach to character improvement modeled on contemporary medicine. First, diagnose each person’s character flaws. Then tailor treatment plans to each flaw. An important tool is a fine-grained table of the components of character, their failure modes, and corresponding therapies. Curzer provides the beginnings of such a table.

Howard J. Curzer is a President’s Excellence in Research Professor at Texas Tech University. His publications include the monograph Aristotle and the Virtues (2012), a textbook-anthology Ethical Theory and Moral Problems (1999); and articles on ancient philosophy, contemporary virtue ethics, the Confucian tradition, moral development, research ethics, biomedical ethics, and the Hebrew Bible. He is a recipient of an NSF grant and co-edited a special issue of a journal of the National Academy of Sciences, ILAR Journal (2013).

1. Introduction: Welcome to the Real World 2. Don’t Dream Impossible Dreams 3. Divorcing the Virtuous and the Right 4. When Virtues Collide: Dilemmas and Other Debris 5. Grounding the Theory: Happy Campers, Virtue-Cool Kids, and Practically Wise Guys 6. Reciprocity of Virtue v. Unevenly Virtuous People 7. Corrective Doctrine v. Doctrine of the Mean 8. Healing Character Flaws 9. Teeny Tiny Bits of Virtue 10. Demystifying Practical Wisdom and Complexifying Decision-Making 11. Aristotelian Well-Being for the Modern World 12. A Glance Backward; A Way Forward

Erscheinungsdatum	22.08.2024
Zusatzinfo	21 Tables, black and white; 15 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Halftones, black and white; 16 Illustrations, black and white
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	503 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Ethik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Entwicklungspsychologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sozialpsychologie
ISBN-10	1-032-42548-2 / 1032425482
ISBN-13	978-1-032-42548-1 / 9781032425481
Zustand	Neuware