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Full Idea
There are variants of virtue ethics that do not require character traits in the ordinary sense. For example, moral thinking might be explicated by appeal to judgements about whether particular actions are just or courageous or whatever.
Gist of Idea
Virtue ethics might involve judgements about the virtues of actions, rather than character
Source
Gilbert Harman (Moral Philosophy meets social psychology [1999], 10.7.1.1)
Book Ref
Harman,Gilbert: 'Explaining Value and Other Essays' [OUP 2000], p.176
A Reaction
A very interesting proposal (from Judith Jarvis Thomson). This would flatly reject Aristotle, and one presumes that the judgement about the virtue of the action would largely be a matter of pondering cultural conventions (or, perhaps, consequences).
| 5122 | Maybe consequentialism is a critique of ordinary morality, rather than describing it [Harman] |
| 5123 | Maybe there is no such thing as character, and the virtues and vices said to accompany it [Harman] |
| 5124 | If a person's two acts of timidity have different explanations, they are not one character trait [Harman] |
| 5125 | Virtue ethics might involve judgements about the virtues of actions, rather than character [Harman] |