Single Idea 4341

[catalogued under 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 5. Action Dilemmas / a. Dilemmas]

Full Idea

The actions a virtuous agent is forced to in tragic dilemmas fail to be good actions because the doing of them, no matter how unwillingly or involuntarily, mars or ruins a good life.

Gist of Idea

Involuntary actions performed in tragic dilemmas are bad because they mar a good life

Source

Rosalind Hursthouse (On Virtue Ethics [1999], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Hursthouse,Rosalind: 'On Virtue Ethics' [OUP 2001], p.74


A Reaction

Of course, only virtuous people have their lives ruined by such things. For the cold or the wicked it is just water off a duck's back.