Empirical Approaches to Virtue Science

Virtue theories form a class of moral theory that emphasize qualities of character, the cultivation of individual virtues (e.g., love, gratitude), practical wisdom (phronesis), and the situating of the virtues in the context of a concept of what it means to flourish in being fully human (eudaimonia). Virtue theories are typically understood to contrast with the two major “systems” of modern moral philosophy: deontology and utilitarianism, both of which have historically emphasized actions over questions of character. Whereas deontology and utilitarianism ask the question, “What should I do?” virtue ethics poses the question, “What kind of person should I be?” Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Aquinas' reinterpretation in the Summa Theologiae are widely understood to be paradigmatic virtue theories, but renewed philosophical and theological interest in virtue theory developed only in the latter twentieth century, notably with the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Servais Pinckaers, Alasdair MacIntyre, Stanley Hauerwas, Romanus Cessario, Rosalind Hursthouse, Robert M. Adams, and Linda T. Zagzebski. ¹