EXEMPLARIST VIRTUE THEORY
Abstract
Abstract: In this essay I outline a radical kind of virtue theory I call exemplarism, which is foundational in structure but which is grounded in exemplars of moral goodness, direct reference to which anchors all the moral concepts in the theory. I compare several different kinds of moral theory by the way they relate the concepts of the good, a right act, and a virtue. In the theory I propose, these concepts, along with the concepts of a duty and of a good life, are defined by reference to exemplars, identified directly through the emotion of admiration, not through a description. It is an advantage of the theory that what makes a good person good is not given a priori but is determined by empirical investigation. The same point applies to what good persons do and what states of affairs they aim at. The theory gives an important place to empirical investigation and narratives about exemplars analogous to the scientific investigation of natural kinds in the theory of direct reference.
Number of times cited: 23
- Jan-Willem van der Rijt, The Vice of Admiration, Philosophy, 93, 01, (69)
- , , Liebe – eine Tugend?, (311)
- Diana Hoyos‐Valdés, The notion of character friendship and the cultivation of virtue, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 48, 1, (66-82), (2017).
- Elizabeth Agnew Cochran and Darlene Fozard Weaver, Can virtue be learned? An exploration of student learning experiences in ethics courses and their implications for influencing moral character, Teaching Theology & Religion, 20, 3, (243-256), (2017).
- G. Michael Leffel, Ross A. Oakes Mueller, Sandra A. Ham, Farr A. Curlin and John D. Yoon, Project on the Good Physician: A Proposal for a Moral Intuitionist Model of Virtuous Caring, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 29, 1, (75)
- Michel Croce and Maria Silvia Vaccarezza, Educating through exemplars: Alternative paths to virtue, Theory and Research in Education, 15, 1, (5)
- Debra R. Comer and Michael Schwartz, Highlighting Moral Courage in the Business Ethics Course, Journal of Business Ethics, 146, 3, (703)
- IAN JAMES KIDD, Beauty, virtue, and religious exemplars, Religious Studies, 53, 02, (171)
- Juli K. Thorson, Thick, Thin, and Becoming a Virtuous Arguer, Topoi, 35, 2, (359)
- Sarah Clement and Richard Bollinger, Perspectives on Character Virtue Development, Research in Human Development, 13, 2, (174)
- Brian Robinson, Character, Caricature, and Gossip, The Monist, 99, 2, (198)
- Nathan Stout, Autism, episodic memory, and moral exemplars, Philosophical Psychology, 29, 6, (858)
- T. Ryan Byerly and Meghan Byerly, The Special Value of Others-Centeredness, Res Philosophica, 93, 1, (63)
- Linda Zagzebski, I-Admiration and the Admirable, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 89, 1, (205)
- G. Michael Leffel, Ross A. Oakes Mueller, Farr A. Curlin and John D. Yoon, Relevance of the rationalist–intuitionist debate for ethics and professionalism in medical education, Advances in Health Sciences Education, 20, 5, (1371)
- Eric L. Hutton, On the “Virtue Turn” and the Problem of Categorizing Chinese Thought, Dao, 14, 3, (331)
- T. Ryan Byerly, The Values and Varieties of Humility, Philosophia, 42, 4, (889)
- Cheryl Abbate, Virtues and Animals: A Minimally Decent Ethic for Practical Living in a Non-ideal World, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 27, 6, (909)
- Matthew Kieran, Creativity, Virtue and the Challenges from Natural Talent, Ill-Being and Immorality, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 75, (203)
- Adam Feltz and Edward T. Cokely, Virtue or consequences: The folk against pure evaluational internalism, Philosophical Psychology, 26, 5, (702)
- Adam Feltz and Edward T. Cokely, The Virtues of Ignorance, Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 3, 3, (335)
- Daniel Lapsley and Darcia Narvaez, Moral criteria and character education: a reply to Welch, Journal of Moral Education, 40, 4, (527)
- Benjamin Storey, The Problem of Admiration in Rousseau’s “Sad and Great System”, The Journal of Politics, 73, 3, (735)
