ABSTRACT
The challenge that Prinz sets for virtue ethics can itself be brought into focus by first specifying more precisely the difference between an 'external' and 'internal' validation of the virtues. An external validation of the virtues of character is an attempt to demonstrate that possession of the virtues of character is necessary in order to secure some good, or to avoid some harm, where the good in question, or the harm, is recognizable as such independently of the particular evaluative outlook provided by possession of the virtues themselves. The "Normativity Challenge" seems to press the idea that neither an external validation nor an internal validation of the ethical virtues is at all likely to succeed. The problem is rather that without the giving and the taking of reasons—without the rational exchange of practical considerations between the agrarian and herder communities—an insulated and culture-bound conception of well-being provides a recipe for justifiable cultural imperialism.
