Journal of Philosophical Investigations

نویسنده

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Cardiff University, Christ Church, Stellenbosch University, University of Oxford, UK

چکیده

What confers their value on genuine virtues, it is argued, consists in the intrinsic value that instantiating them in thought and action standardly brings about. This granted, virtue theory is argued to be capable of plugging a gap in consequentialist theories of the kind that make actions right which either exemplify optimific practices or are directly optimific. Compliance with optimific practices like truth-telling makes the relevant actions right, subject to certain exceptions. But even if such compliance is combined with the optimificity of beneficent actions, considered singly, that do not exemplify these practices, the resulting theory of rightness remains gap-ridden. The gap can be filled if it is granted that virtuous actions are generally optimific, and this knowledge is incorporated into consequentialist theories of rightness. Thus where no optimific practices are relevant, and no actions are manifestly directly optimific, dispositions of a generally optimific character (virtues) can rightly be adopted.

کلیدواژه‌ها

عنوان مقاله [English]

Virtues and Value: How Virtue Theory Plugs a Gap in Practice-Consequentialism

نویسنده [English]

  • Robin Attfield

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Cardiff University, Christ Church, Stellenbosch University, University of Oxford, UK

چکیده [English]

What confers their value on genuine virtues, it is argued, consists in the intrinsic value that instantiating them in thought and action standardly brings about. This granted, virtue theory is argued to be capable of plugging a gap in consequentialist theories of the kind that make actions right which either exemplify optimific practices or are directly optimific. Compliance with optimific practices like truth-telling makes the relevant actions right, subject to certain exceptions. But even if such compliance is combined with the optimificity of beneficent actions, considered singly, that do not exemplify these practices, the resulting theory of rightness remains gap-ridden. The gap can be filled if it is granted that virtuous actions are generally optimific, and this knowledge is incorporated into consequentialist theories of rightness. Thus where no optimific practices are relevant, and no actions are manifestly directly optimific, dispositions of a generally optimific character (virtues) can rightly be adopted.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • practice - consequentialism
  • virtue ethics
  • optimitic practices
  • practical guidance
  • green virtues
Attfield, Robin. (2019/1995). Value, Obligation and Meta-Ethics, Leiden: NL: Brill.
Attfield, Robin. (2021/1987). A Theory of Value and Obligation, London: Routledge.
Attfield, Robin; Humphreys, Rebekah. (2016). Justice and Non-human Animals, Part I, Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics, 7, 1-11.
Attfield, Robin; Humphreys, Rebekah. (2017). Justice and Non-human Animals, Part II, Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics, 8(1), 44-57.
Crisp, Roger. (1992). Utilitarianism and the Life of Virtue, the Philosophical Quarterly, 42(2), 139-60
Hooker, Brad. (2002). The Collapse of Virtue Ethics, Utilitas 14(1), 22-40.
Hursthouse, Rosalind. (2002). Virtue Ethics vs. Rule-Consequentialism: A Reply to Brad Hooker, Utilitas 14(1), 41-53
Jamieson, Dale. (2007). When Utilitarians Should Be Virtue Theorists, Utilitas, 19(2), 160-183.
Lenman, James. (2000). Consequentialism and Cluelessness, Philosophy and Public Affairs, (actual publication date of the issue containing this paper: Autumn, 2001), Vol 29, 342-370.
 
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