Virtue Ethics: An Introduction

Richard Taylor

Virtue Ethics: An Introduction
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Prometheus Books
Country
United States
Published
1 March 2002
Pages
144
ISBN
9781573929431

Virtue Ethics: An Introduction

Richard Taylor

In this fresh evaluation of Western ethics, noted philosopher Richard Taylor argues that philosophy must return to the classical notion of virtue as the basis of ethics. To ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, ethics was chiefly the study of how individuals attain personal excellence, or ‘virtue’, defined as intellectual sophistication, wisdom, strength of character, and creativity. With the ascendancy of the Judeo-Christian ethic, says Taylor, this emphasis on pride of personal worth was lost. Instead, philosophy became preoccupied with defining right and wrong in terms of a divine lawgiver, and the concept of virtue was debased to mean mere obedience to divine law. Even today, in the absence of religious belief, modern thinkers unwittingly continue this legacy by creating hair-splitting definitions of good and evil.

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