Virtue Rediscovered: Deontology, Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics in the Contemporary Moral Landscape

Description

Virtue ethics occupies the strange position of being one of the oldest and most prominently discussed ethical theories throughout history, and yet many contemporary moral philosophers do not recognize it as a genuine alternative to currently prominent normative theories, such as utilitarianism or Kantian ethics. In Virtue Rediscovered: Deontology, Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics in the Contemporary Moral Landscape, Nathan Wood argues that this discrepancy requires us to rethink how we understand the function and purpose of normative ethical theories, especially insofar as such theories are expected to be action guiding. All ethical theories guide action, but they do so in two different ways. One way is through stipulating criteria for what we ought to do, but another way is setting a core concern that represents an account of what lies at the heart of morality and determines the moral salience of features in the world. This framework not only clarifies the nature of deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics, but also recasts the debate among them. Cover Virtue Rediscovered Virtue Rediscovered: Deontology, Consequentialism, and Virtue Ethics in the Contemporary Moral Landscape Copyright Page Contents Preface Note Introduction Notes Chapter 1 The Varieties of Virtue Ethics Virtue Ethics as Agent Centered The Centrality of Virtue Notes Chapter 2 Restructuring the Debate Distinguishing Acts from Agents The Historical Ascendency of Act-centered Ethics Ethical Theories as Genus Theories Genus Theories and the Internal/External Divide Notes Chapter 3 Resurrecting Deontology DEONTOLOGY OR NON-CONSEQUENTIALISM? Reviving Deontology Side-constraints: Deontological or Consequentialist? Agent-relativity and Deontology Kant and Ross as Deontologists Side-constraints Revisited Notes Chapter 4 Clarifying Consequentialism THE NATURE OF CONSEQUENTIALISM Objective vs. Subjective Consequentialism Motive-utilitarianism Motives or Consequences Notes Chapter 5 Virtue Ethics in a New Light The Third Alternative The Uneasy Relationship between Consequentialism and Virtue Ethics Notes Chapter 6 Virtue Ethics as a Whole THE TWO CONDITIONS OF VIRTUE ETHICS The External Condition of Virtue Ethics Acting Well and the Dual-aspect Theory Stoicism and the Dual-aspect Theory of Virtue Ethics Notes Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index About the Author