Uneasy Virtue

Julia Driver

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511498770

The predominant view of moral virtue can be traced back to Aristotle. He believed that moral virtue must involve intellectual excellence. To have moral virtue one must have practical wisdom - the ability to deliberate well and to see what is morally relevant in a given context. Julia Driver challenges this classical theory of virtue, arguing that it fails to take into account virtues which do seem to involve ignorance or epistemic defect. Some 'virtues of ignorance' are counterexamples to accounts of virtue which hold that moral virtue must involve practical wisdom. Modesty, for example, is generally considered to be a virtue even though the modest person may be making an inaccurate assessment of his or her accomplishments. Driver argues that we should abandon the highly intellectualist view of virtue and instead adopt a consequentialist perspective which holds that virtue is simply a character trait which systematically produces good consequences.

"Uneasy Virtue is required reading for those interested in virtue theory, consequentialism, and normative ethics in general. I recommend it in the warmest terms." Metaphilosophy, Leonard A. Kahn

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Uneasy Virtue

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Acknowledgments
pp ix-xii

Introduction
pp xiii-xxii

1 - The Aristotelian Conception of Virtue
pp 1-15

2 - The Virtues of Ignorance
pp 16-41

3 - Dubious Virtue Psychology
pp 42-62

4 - A Consequentialist Theory of Virtue
pp 63-83

5 - Virtue and the Will
pp 84-108

Conclusion
pp 109-110

Notes
pp 111-124

References
pp 125-130

Index
pp 131-134

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Uneasy Virtue

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