ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses virtue ethics in relation to the rejection of the use of lethal violence. It argues that a person of good character will have a very strong intrinsic desire to avoid the killing of another human being, so that only in rare circumstances where the alternative to violence is immensely evil would the use of violence to prevent the evil be the morally appropriate choice for the person to make. The chapter explains why a virtuous agent would be strongly averse to killing human beings. It shows that this does not mean that such an agent would never use violence on others, only that she would be very reluctant to do so. The circumstances in which killings take place are found most of all in war, so the chapter concludes by discussing where the virtue ethics approach to war is positioned in relation to just war theory and pacifism.
