ABSTRACT

As was noted in chapter 2 of this book, a key question in ethics, and in applied ethics in particular, is ‘what is the purpose of the study of ethics?’. Is the goal only to understand ethical questions more deeply, or should the study of ethics also be concerned with changing the students’ behaviour,1

developing their characters? In that same chapter it was argued that Aristotelian virtue theory explicitly addresses the question of character development. Aristotle’s account emphasizes the importance of practice (or habituation) in the acquisition of virtue, but also gives a definition of virtue according to which virtuous acting is guided by rational principle. This suggests that the sort of reflection on ethics Aristotle engages in may also have a bearing on the acquisition of virtue as well as on practice. So what is the upshot of this regarding the goal of ethical study? Aristotle’s account clearly gives advice as to how to acquire virtue, even if such acquisition may not occur in the lecture room. But is there any way in which study can directly affect behaviour? As has just been said, the relevance of rational principle to virtue may give study a direct input, but can any more be added?