From Morality to Virtue
About: This article is published in Social Theory and Practice.The article was published on 1994-07-01. It has received 74 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Virtue & Morality.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that virtue ethics is self-effacing in just the same way as the theories that Stocker attacks, and that if there is a way for virtue ethics to avoid selfeffacement then there are ways for its rivals to avoid it too.
Abstract: An ethical theory is self-effacing if it tells us that sometimes, we should not be motivated by the considerations that justify our acts. In his influential paper ‘The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories’ [1976], Michael Stocker argues that consequentialist and deontological ethical theories must be self-effacing, if they are to be at all plausible. Stocker's argument is often taken to provide a reason to give up consequentialism and deontology in favour of virtue ethics. I argue that this assessment is a mistake. Virtue ethics is self-effacing in just the same way as are the theories that Stocker attacks. Or, at the very least: if there is a way for virtue ethics to avoid self-effacement then there are ways for its rivals to avoid self-effacement too. Therefore, considerations of self-effacement provide no reason to prefer virtue ethics to its major rivals.
25 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, an agent-based approach is proposed, where moral behavior is not limited to adherence to a rule or guideline, but rather involves the individual rationally pursuing moral excellence as a goal in and of itself.
Abstract: Contrarily, rather than the action-based focus on rules governing action, the agent-based approach concerns the fundamental character and motivations of the individual agent. Under the agent-based approach, moral behavior is not limited to adherence to a rule or guideline but rather involves the individual rationally pursuing moral excellence as a goal in and of itself. In essence, ethics becomes central to the rationality concept as an objective rather than a constraint: \"something positively good, ..something to be sought after\" (Ladd, 1991, p. 82).
24 citations
Cites background from "From Morality to Virtue"
...[Slote, 1992, p. 9, emphasis added] A succinct definition of virtue is supplied by MacIntyre: "A virtue is an acquired human quality the possession and exercise of which tends to enable us to achieve those goods which are internal..." (1984, p. 191)....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between working capital management and the firm's performance i.e. impact on profitability by taking a sample of five selected Indian cement companies for the period 2001-2010.
Abstract: Prior studies on this have already proved the existence of relationship between working capital and firm’s performance. In extension to the existing literature, this study is designed to investigate the relationship between working capital management and the firm’s performance i.e. impact on profitability by taking a sample of five selected Indian cement companies for the period 2001-2010. An attempt has been made to investigate the existence of relationship between the working capital management and the profitability, average receivable period, inventory conversion period, average payment period and the cash conversion cycle which expresses the efficiency of working capital. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation. It was found that there is a negative significant relationship between accounts receivable period and firm’s profitability, a negative relationship between Inventory conversion period and profitability, negative significant relationship between accounts payable period and profitability but a positive relationship between firm’s cash conversion cycle and its profitability. This shows that firms are selling their inventory and collecting the receivables before they have to pay for the payables.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare what two virtue frameworks (one focused on virtue in the context of community and the other on individuals as virtuous agents) lead to when evaluating the actions of parties to the 2002-2004 UK Fire Service dispute.
Abstract: There has been increasing interest in the relevance of virtue approaches to ethics over the past 15 years. However, debate surrounding the virtue approach in the business, management and organisational studies literature has lacked progress. First, this literature focuses on a narrow range of philosophers, and, second, it has failed to analyse properly the consequences of virtue theory for action in practical settings other than in abstract terms. In order to begin addressing these issues, this paper compares what two virtue frameworks—one focused on virtue in the context of community and the other on individuals as virtuous agents—lead to when evaluating the actions of parties to the 2002–2004 UK Fire Service dispute. The analysis argues that the virtue frameworks proposed by MacIntyre and Slote offer different but complimentary evaluations. Both not only point to potential problems with industrial disputes, but also recognise the legitimacy of action that is based in good motivations and carried out with regard for the virtues. It seems that fire fighters and their immediate supervisors, on the whole, met the conditions of virtue, but that it is open to question if the leaders of the Fire Brigades Union and the Government did the same. The analysis goes on to suggest which modes of negotiation would be acceptable under the virtue frameworks, and the implications for those involved in industrial dispute.
23 citations
Cites background from "From Morality to Virtue"
...It is noticeable that the analysis does not lead to the conclusion that the FBU’s leadership or G/LGAs were overall virtuous in the dispute on the basis of Slote’ (1996) or MacIntyre’s (1985) frameworks....
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...Slote (1996) argues that there are virtues that are self regarding, other regarding and mixed....
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...The paper will start by outlining ‘How Virtue Guides Our Actions’ before continuing to examine ‘Two Virtue Frameworks’ and the structures for virtue developed by MacIntyre (1985, 1988, 1990 and 1999) and Slote (1996) and in doing so develop evaluative criteria....
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...So, Slote (1996) abandons maximising for satisficing, but he also makes a much more significant move when developing evaluative standards in his framework by abandoning morality....
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...These frameworks can be split between those that focus on virtue constituted by social relationships (e.g. MacIntyre 1985) and others that focus on virtues as centred on individuals (e.g. Foot 2001, 2002a, 2002b, Slote 1996 and 2001, Swanton 2001 and 2003)....
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01 Jun 2018
TL;DR: This article investigated the transition mechanisms of religious ideologemes observed in their lexical representation in the Victorian novel corpus and claimed that the amalgamation of Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical ideologies made for the subsequent transformation of theological virtues resulting in their internalized translation to the rising ideology of emotionalist moral values.
Abstract: Abstract The study investigates the transition mechanisms of religious ideologemes observed in their lexical representation in the Victorian novel corpus. The paper claims that the amalgamation of Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical ideologies made for the subsequent transformation of theological virtues resulting in their internalized translation to the rising ideology of emotionalist moral values.
20 citations
Cites background from "From Morality to Virtue"
...Utilitarianism allowing "rationality, prudence, obligation and justice all to be understood in term of producing 300 ISSN 2453-8035 DOI: 10.2478/lart-2018-0008 overall good consequences for human well-being" (Slote 1992: XVII) welcomed a marked asymmetry in moral ideologemes....
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References
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01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: A companion to bioethics, A companion to Bioethics as mentioned in this paper, a companion to the bioethic, and a companion of the humanist movement in the 21st century.
Abstract: A companion to bioethics , A companion to bioethics , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تهران
271 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that caring is a "threshold concept" by virtue of the "troublesome knowledge" with which students are confronted on meeting patients in practice, and suggest a number of ways in which students can be helped to move forward towards or through the threshold to a more cogent understanding of caring.
Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which student health professionals undergo a transformation in their sense of identity as they engage with caring discourses that underpin healthcare. I argue that caring is a ‘threshold concept’ by virtue of the ‘troublesome knowledge’ with which students are confronted on meeting patients in practice. When superimposed on commonsense understandings of caring, medical connotations of care and moral and ethical dilemmas challenge students to develop their own personal framework within which to operate. I suggest a number of ways in which students can be helped to move forward towards or through the threshold to a more cogent understanding of caring. Subsequent positioning in terms of caring discourses forms a facet of the students’ developing identities as healthcare professionals and therefore is a fundamental aspect of professional socialization.
169 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that in a complex socio-political world, social work ethics needs to re-cast the moral identity of the social worker in terms of virtue ethics, the acquired inner qualities of humans, the possession of which, if applied in due measure, will typically contribute to the realization of the good life or "eudaimonia".
Abstract: Summary This article argues that in a complex socio-political world, social work ethics needs to re-cast the moral identity of the social worker in terms of virtue ethics. We review virtue theory’s Aristotelian foundations and criticisms of Kantian and utilitarian theory and show how they apply to social work. Subsequently we offer an account of a virtuebased social work that questions the validity of several models of practice currently fashionable. Virtue theory emphasizes the priority of the individual moral agent who has acquired virtues commensurate with the pursuit of a revisable conception of the good life—the well-being of all in a defined community. The virtues are the acquired inner qualities of humans—character—the possession of which, if applied in due measure, will typically contribute to the realization of the good life or ‘eudaimonia’. The role of the virtuous social worker is shown to be one that necessitates appropriate application of intellectual and practical virtues such as justice, reflection, perception, judgement, bravery, prudence, liberality and temperance. This ‘self-flourishing’ worker,
159 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a quantitative analysis of authors, schools, themes, and publications of virtue ethics in business and management literature is presented, with a focus on the most prolific authors, most cited authors, the most cited articles, and journals with the most virtue ethics publications.
Abstract: Virtue ethics is generally recognized as one of the three major schools of ethics, but is often waylaid by utilitarianism and deontology in business and management literature. EBSCO and ABI databases were used to look for articles in the Journal of Citation Reports publications between 1980 and 2011 containing the keywords ‘virtue ethics’, ‘virtue theory’, or ‘virtuousness’ in the abstract and ‘business’ or ‘management’ in the text. The search was refined to draw lists of the most prolific authors, the most cited authors, the most cited articles, and the journals with the most virtue ethics publications. This information allows one to chart how virtue ethics articles have evolved through the decades and to establish ‘schools’ or clusters of authors as well as clusters of themes. The results of this quantitative analysis of authors, ‘schools’, themes, and publications provide a foundation for the future study of virtue ethics in business and management, identifying its achievements and potentials.
135 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the strategy of role-modeling, as explicated by the character education movement, is beset with three unsolved problems: an empirical problem of why this method is needed, a methodological problem of how students are to be inspired to emulate, and a substantive moral problem of what precisely should be taught.
Abstract: This article is about (1) the ancient (Aristotelian) emotional virtue of emulation, (2) some current character‐education inspired accounts of the use of role models in moral education and, most importantly, (3) the potential relevance of (1) for (2). The author argues that the strategy of role‐modelling, as explicated by the character‐education movement, is beset with three unsolved problems: an empirical problem of why this method is needed; a methodological problem of how students are to be inspired to emulation; and a substantive moral problem of what precisely should be taught. While the first of these three problems may perhaps be overlooked with impunity, the second and third problems stand in urgent need of rectification if role‐modelling is to retain its moral and educational import. After exploring Aristotle's notion of emulation, the author suggests that this rich and nuanced notion may hold the key to the solution of both problems. Such Aristotelian solutions are then spelled out and defended.
114 citations