The exemplary and the right. Contemporary virtue ethics, action guidance, and action assessment

Titolo Rivista RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA
Autori/Curatori Maria Silvia Vaccarezza
Anno di pubblicazione 2023 Fascicolo 2023/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 17 P. 148-164 Dimensione file 208 KB
DOI 10.3280/SF2023-001010
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

In this paper, I will account for the importance of the notion of exemplarity within the contemporary virtue-­ethical debate, both in its classic formulation (e.g., Hursthouse 1999) and in the recent exemplarist moral theory advanced by Linda T. Zagzebski (2015;; 2017). Despite their differences, which I will discuss extensively, both theories are centered on a characterization of an exemplary virtuous agent that serves as a standard for determining what, in a given situation, is right, wrong, dutiful and forbidden. The first two sections will be devoted to an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of these two approaches. In the third, I will propose a different role of radical (i.e., exceptional) individuals, i.e., saints and heroes, within a virtue-ethical theory of right action.

Keywords:virtue ethics, exemplarism, right act, moral saints, moral heroes

  1. -­ Annas 2003: Julia Annas, Being Virtuous and Doing the Right Thing, «Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association», 78 (2003), 2, pp. 61-­75.
  2. -­ Annas 2015: Julia Annas, Virtue and heroism, «The Lindley Lecture», The University of Kansas October 23, 2015.
  3. -­ Badhwar 1996: Neera K. Badhwar, The Limited Unity of Virtue, «Nous» 30 (1996), 3, pp. 306-­329.
  4. -­ Blum 1988: Lawrence Blum, Moral Exemplars: Reflections on Schindler, the Trocmés, and Others, «Midwest Studies in Philosophy» 13 (1988), pp. 196-­221.
  5. -­ Copp & Sobel 2004: David Copp and David Sobel, Morality and Virtue: An Assessment of Some Recent Work in Virtue Ethics, «Ethics», 114 (2004), pp. 514–54.
  6. -­ Cox 2006: Damian Cox, Agent-­Based Theories of Right Action, «Ethical Theory and Moral Practice», 9 (2006), 5, pp. 505-­515.
  7. -­ Curzer (2012): Howard Curzer, Aristotle and the Virtues, Oxford, Oxford University Press 2012.
  8. -­ Cusinato 2011: Guido Cusinato, Sull’esemplarità aurorale, in Emanuele Caminada (ed.), Modelli e capi, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2011, pp. 7-­28.
  9. -­ Cusinato 2014: Guido Cusinato, Periagoge. Teoria della singolarità e filosofia come esercizio di trasformazione, Verona, QuiEdit 2014.
  10. -­ De Caro & Vaccarezza 2020: Mario De Caro and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, Morality and Interpretation: The Principle of Phronetic Charity, «Ethical Theory and Moral Practice» 23 (2020), 2, pp. 295-­307.
  11. -­ De Caro, Vaccarezza & Niccoli 2018: Mario De Caro, Maria Silvia Vaccarezza and Ariele Niccoli, Phronesis as Ethical Expertise: Naturalism of Second Nature and the Unity of Virtue, «Journal of Value Inquiry», 52 (2018), 3, pp. 287-­305.
  12. -­ Foot 2001: Philippa Foot, Natural Goodness, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001.
  13. -­ Hacker-­Wright 2010: John Hacker-­Wright, Virtue Ethics without Right Action: Anscombe, Foot, and Contemporary Virtue Ethics, «Journal of Value Inquiry» 44 (2010), pp. 209-­224.
  14. -­ Harman 2000: Gilbert Harman, The Nonexistence of Character Traits, in Alex Byrne, Robert Stalnaker, and Ralph Wedgwood (eds.), Fact and Value, Cambridge (MA), MIT Press, pp. 117-­27.
  15. -­ Heyd 2015: David Heyd, Can Virtue Ethics Account for Supererogation?, in Christopher Cowley (ed.), Supererogation, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 77 (2015), Cambridge University Press, pp. 25-­47.
  16. -­ Hovda 2018: Jeremy Hovda, The Role of Exemplars in Kant’s Moral Philosophy, «Etica & Politica / Ethics & Politics», 20 (2018), 2, pp. 31-­44.
  17. -­ Hursthouse 1991: Rosalind Hursthouse, Virtue Theory and Abortion, «Philosophy and Public Affairs» 20 (1991), 3, pp. 223-­246.
  18. -­ Hursthouse 1999: Rosalind Hursthouse, On Virtue Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999.
  19. -­ Hursthouse 2006: Rosalind Hursthouse, Are virtues the proper starting point for morality?, in J. Lawrence Dreier (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory, London, Blackwell 2006, pp. 99-­112.
  20. -­ Kawall 2009: Jason Kawall, Virtue Theory, Ideal Observers, and the Supererogatory, «Philosophical Studies» 146 (2009), pp.179-­19.
  21. -­ Kawall 2014: Jason Kawall, Qualified Agent and Agent-­Based Virtue Ethics and the Problems of Right Action, in Stan van Hooft (ed.), The Handbook of Virtue Ethics, Durham, Acumen 2014, pp. 130-­140.
  22. -­ Louden 1984: Robert B. Louden, On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics, «American Philosophical Quarterly» 21 (1984), 3, pp. 227-­236.
  23. -­ Louden 1992: Robert Louden, Go-­carts of Judgement: Exemplars in Kantian Moral Education, «Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie», 74 (1992), 3, pp. 303-­322.
  24. -­ Louden 2009: Robert Louden, Making the law visible: the role of examples in Kant’s ethics, in Jens Timmermann (ed.), Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, New York 2009.
  25. -­ Nagel 1979: Thomas Nagel, The Fragmentation of Value, in Id., Mortal Questions, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1979, pp. 128-­141.
  26. -­ Russell 2009: Daniel C. Russell, Practical Intelligence and the Virtues, Oxford, Oxford University Press 2009.
  27. -­ Schneewind 1997: Jerome Schneewind, The Misfortunes of Virtue, in Roger Crisp and Michael Slote (eds.), Virtue Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997.
  28. -­ Stangl 2016: Rebecca Stangl, Neo-­Aristotelian Supererogation, «Ethics» 126 (2016), pp. 339-­365.
  29. -­ Swanton 2001: Christine Swanton, A Virtue-­Ethical Account of Right Action, «Ethics» 112 (201), 1, pp. 32-­52.
  30. -­ Swanton 2003: Christine Swanton, Virtue Ethics: A Pluralistic View, New York, Oxford University Press, 2003.
  31. -­ Tiberius 2006: Valerie Tiberius, How to Think About Virtue and Right, «Philosophical Papers» 35 (2006), 2, pp. 247-­265.
  32. -­ Urmson 1958: James O. Urmson, Saints and Heroes, in Abraham I. Melden (ed.), Essays in Moral Philosophy, University of Washington Press, Seattle 1958, pp. 198-­ 216.
  33. -­ Vaccarezza 2019: Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, An Excess of Excellence: Aristotelian Supererogation and the Degrees of Virtue, «International Journal of Philosophical Studies», 27 (2019), 1, pp. 1-­11.
  34. -­ Vaccarezza 2020a: Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, Paths to Flourishing: Ancient Models of the Exemplary Life, «Ethics and Education» 15 (2020), 2, pp. 144-­157.
  35. -­ Vaccarezza 2020b: Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, Esempi morali. Tra ammirazione ed etica delle virtù, Bologna, il Mulino 2020.
  36. -­ Van Zyl 2011: Liezl van Zyl, Qualified-­agent virtue ethics, «South African Journal of Philosophy» 30 (2011), 2, pp. 219-­228.
  37. -­ Walker 1993: A.D.M. Walker, The Incompatibility of the Virtues, «Ratio» 6 (1993), 1, pp. 44-­60.
  38. -­ Wallace 1978: James D. Wallace, Virtues and Vices, Cornell, Cornell University Press 1978.
  39. -­ Williams 1982: Bernard Williams, Conflicts of values, in Id., Moral Luck, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1982, pp. 71-­82.
  40. -­ Williams 1985: Bernard Williams, Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Harvard University Press, Harvard 1985.
  41. -­ Wilson 2017: Alan Wilson, A Dilemma for Neo-­Aristotelian Supererogation, «Ethics» 128 (2017), 1, pp. 199-­211.
  42. -­ Wolf 1982: Susan Wolf, Moral Saints, «The Journal of Philosophy» 79 (1982), 8, pp. 419-­439.
  43. -­ Zagzebski 2004: Linda T. Zagzebski, Divine Motivation Theory, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004.
  44. -­ Zagzebski 2015: Linda T. Zagzebski, Admiration and the Admirable, «Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society», suppl. 89 (2015), 1, pp. 205-­221
  45. -­ Zagzebski 2017: Linda T. Zagzebski, Exemplarist Moral Theory, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2017.

Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, The exemplary and the right. Contemporary virtue ethics, action guidance, and action assessment in "RIVISTA DI STORIA DELLA FILOSOFIA" 1/2023, pp 148-164, DOI: 10.3280/SF2023-001010