virtue ethics

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the tradition of moral philosophy originating with Aristotle that focuses on the character of the moral agent rather than on rules or consequences, asking not what should I do but what kind of person should I be; virtues — such as courage, justice, practical wisdom (phronesis), temperance, and generosity — are stable character traits cultivated through habituation and practice that enable their possessor to perceive morally salient features of situations and respond well; virtue ethics was revived in the twentieth century by Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Alasdair MacIntyre as an alternative to both Kantian deontology and utilitarianism, arguing that both theories distort morality by abstracting it from the narrative context of a human life and the social practices within which virtues are learned and exercised