ABSTRACT
Murphy identifies the origins of Foundationalism in the philosophy of the Enlightenment, epitomised by that of Descartes. For Fromm the individuals and groups within society need to become individuated by extension the need for the church is for it to embrace a process of individuation and to rejoice in and develop its individuality. Virtue ethics offers a useful way in to the discovery of a right relationship between church and society as it sidesteps the foundationalism of both deontological and utilitarian/consequentialist ethics. Virtue ethics is generally understood to have had its origins in the ethical thought of Aristotle, and it is in the work of Aristotle that the foremost contemporary advocate of virtue ethics, Alasdair MacIntyre, roots his argument. This chapter seeks to explore some of the underlying theoretical issues beneath the corrosion of character in society and in the church. Fromm and Pruyser offer a psychodynamic insight on acquisitiveness and narcissism.
