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1197Virtue Theory and AbortionPhilosophy and Public Affairs 20 (3): 223-246. 1991.The sort of ethical theory derived from Aristotle, variously described as virtue ethics, virtue-based ethics, or neo-Aristotelianism, is becoming better known, and is now quite widely recognized as at least a possible rival to deontological and utilitarian theories. With recognition has come criticism, of varying quality. In this article I shall discuss nine separate criticisms that I have frequently encountered, most of which seem to me to betray an inadequate grasp either of the structure of v…Read more
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590Arational actionsJournal of Philosophy 88 (2): 57-68. 1991.According to the standard account of actions and their explanations, intentional actions are actions done because the agent has a certain desire/belief pair that explains the action by rationalizing it. Any explanation of intentional action in terms of an appetite or occurrent emotion is hence assumed to be elliptical, implicitly appealing to some appropriate belief. In this paper, I challenge this assumption with respect to the " arational " actions of my title---a significant subset of the set…Read more
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404Virtues and Reasons: Philippa Foot and Moral Theory: Essays in Honour of Philippa Foot (edited book)Clarendon Press. 1995.Philippa Foot is one of the most original and widely respected philosophers of our time; her work has exerted a lasting influence on the development of moral philosophy. In tribute to her, twelve leading philosophers from both sides of the Atlantic have contributed essays exploring the various topics in moral philosophy to which she has made a distinctive contribution--virtue ethics, naturalism, non-cognitivism, relativism, categorical requirements, and the role of rationality in morality.
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371Human Nature and Aristotelian Virtue EthicsRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 70 169-188. 2012.Given that it relies on claims about human nature, has Aristotelian virtue ethics been undermined by evolutionary biology? There are at least four objections which are offered in support of the claim that this is so, and I argue that they all fail. The first two maintain that contemporary AVE relies on a concept of human nature which evolutionary biology has undercut and I show this is not so. In Part 2, I try to make it clear that Foot's Aristotelian ethical naturalism, often construed as purpo…Read more
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358Virtue EthicsStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2022.Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach that emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that emphasizes the consequences of actions (consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious that someone in need should be helped. A utilitarian will point to the fact that the consequences of doing so will maximize well-being, a deontologist to the fact that…Read more
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332Environmental virtue ethicsIn Rebecca L. Walker & Philip J. Ivanhoe (eds.), Working virtue: virtue ethics and contemporary moral problems, Oxford University Press. pp. 155--172. 2007.
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323Practical wisdom: A mundane accountProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 106 (3). 2006.The prevailing accounts of Aristotle's view of practical wisdom pay little attention to all the intellectual capacities discussed in Nicomachean Ethics Book 6. They also contrast the phronimos with the wicked, the continent or the incontinent, rather than with those who have 'natural virtue' (innate or habituated), and thereby they neglect the importance of experience, through which those capacities are acquired. When we consider them, we can see what sort of experience is needed and hence what …Read more
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316Virtue Ethics vs. Rule-Consequentialism: A Reply to Brad Hooker: Rosalind HursthouseUtilitas 14 (1): 41-53. 2002.In On Virtue Ethics I offered a criterion for a character trait's being a virtue according to which a virtuous character trait must conduce to, or at least not be inimical to, four ends, one of which is the continuance of the human species. I argue here that this does not commit me to homosexuality's being a vice, since homosexuality is not a character trait and hence not up for assessment as a virtue or a vice. Vegetarianism is not up for such assessment either, for the same reason, but, as a p…Read more
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296Philippa Ruth Foot (Bosanquet, 1939)Somerville College Report 1011 81-83. 2011.Very soon after Philippa Foot’s death, there was a flood of newspaper obituaries and ‘posts’ on blogs referring to her as one of the greatest moral philosophers of the twentieth century. She was also, though very few of the writers were in a position to say so, a particularly loyal Somervillian. She read PPE at Somerville during the war, started teaching there after war work in London in 1947, became its first Philosophy Tutorial Fellow in 1949, Vice Principal in 1967, and, although she resigned…Read more
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285Virtue Ethics and the Treatment of AnimalsIn Beauchamp Tom & Frey R. G. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics,, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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274Virtue Ethics and Human NatureHume Studies 25 (1): 67-82. 1999.In this paper, I begin by outlining some basic features of the version of virtue ethics I espouse, and then turn to exploring what light may be shed on our understanding and interpretation of Hume when he is viewed from that perspective.
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258Emotional Reason: Deliberation, Motivation and the Nature of Value (review)Mind 111 (442): 418-422. 2002.This book has an ambitious aim—to make convincing the rejection of the hard and fast cognitive–conative divide currently so prevalent in philosophy of mind and moral psychology. Only such a rejection, Helm believes, can solve—or dissolve—the two major problems of practical reason. The ‘motivational problem’ is ‘a puzzle about the connection between our choosing something as the outcome of deliberation and our being motivated to pursue it’ (p. 1); the ‘deliberative problem’ concerns ‘how delibera…Read more
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239Normative Virtue EthicsIn Roger Crisp (ed.), How Should One Live?: Essays on the Virtues, Oxford University Press. pp. 19-33. 1996.
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237Aristotle, Nicomachean EthicsRoyal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 20 35-53. 1986.Our understanding of the moral philosophy of Aristotle is hampered by a number of modern assumptions we make about the subject. For a start, we are accustomed to thinking about ethics or moral philosophy as being concerned with theoretical questions about actions—what makes an action right or wrong? Modern moral philosophy gives two different sorts of answers to this question. One is in terms of a substantial ethical theory—what makes an action right or wrong is whether it promotes the greatest …Read more
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227Intention (review)Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 46 83-. 2000.When I first read Intention as a student it seemed misnamed, since, I thought, it gave an account of intentional action all right, but left me still wondering what an intention was. It was only with years of rereading that I came to see that one beauty of the account was that it eliminated the need to ask.
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211Are virtues the proper starting point for morality?In James Lawrence Dreier (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Moral Theory, Blackwell. pp. 99--112. 2006.
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207On Virtue EthicsOxford University Press. 1999.Virtue ethics is perhaps the most important development within late twentieth-century moral philosophy. Rosalind Hursthouse, who has made notable contributions to this development, here presents a full exposition and defense of her neo-Aristotelian version of virtue ethics. She shows how virtue ethics can provide guidance for action, illuminate moral dilemmas, and bring out the moral significance of the emotions
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190Ethics, Humans and Other Animals: An Introduction with ReadingsRoutledge. 2000.This introductory textbook is ideally suited to newcomers to philosophy and ethical problems. Rosalind Hursthouse carefully introduces the three standard approaches in current ethical theory: utilitarianism, rights, and virtue ethics. She links each chapter to readings from key exponents such as Peter Singer and Mary Midgley and asks students to think critically about these readings for themselves. Key features include clear activities and activities, chapter summaries and guides to further read…Read more
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183IV*—A False Doctrine of the MeanProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 81 (1): 57-72. 1981.Rosalind Hursthouse; IV*—A False Doctrine of the Mean, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 81, Issue 1, 1 June 1981, Pages 57–72, https://doi.org/10.
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168The central doctrine of the meanIn Richard Kraut (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Blackwell. pp. 96--115. 2006.The prelims comprise: The Doctrine of the Mean outside Aristotle's Ethical Works The “Mean” in Action and Feeling The Central Doctrine of the Mean Virtue as a Mean Disposition and the Moral Education of the Passions Acknowledgments References Further reading.
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123Denoting in the principles of mathematicsSynthese 45 (1). 1980.In "the principles of mathematics" russell accepts (a) that word meaning (e.G., That 'fido' means fido) is irrelevant to logic and (b) that such sentences as 'all men are mortal' do not express quantified propositions but are about things (in this case, The class of men). If we note these confusions, And also that (b), Though not (a) has been abandoned by 'on denoting', We see what denoting is and how russell relates to frege on sinn and bedautung
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102Foot, Philippa Ruth, 1920-2010Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the British Academy Xi. 2012.PHILIPPA RUTH FOOT was born on 3 October 1920, the second daughter of William Bosanquet, who had done mathematics at Cambridge and became the manager of a steelworks in Yorkshire, and Esther Cleveland, daughter of President Grover Cleveland. She was educated mainly at home in the country by governesses, and not well. She said, many years later, that, ‘unsurprisingly’, she had been left ‘extremely ignorant’, and when the last one, ‘who actually had a degree’, suggested to her that she should go t…Read more
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93Fallacies and moral dilemmasArgumentation 9 (4): 617-632. 1995.The continuing debate between utilitarians and deontologists often takes the form of disagreement over how particular moral dilemmas are to be resolved, but protagonists on both sides tend to overlook the possibility of resolving a dilemma “with remainder”, such as regret. The importance of “remainder” is also overlooked by critics of some “absolutist” ways of resolving or slipping between the horns of certain moral dilemmas. Moreover, deontologists, if not utilitarians, can be criticised for ov…Read more
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61On the Grounding of the Virtues in Human NatureIn Matthias Lutz-Bachmann & Jan Szaif (eds.), Was Ist Das Für den Menschen Gute? / What is Good for a Human Being?: Menschliche Natur Und Güterlehre / Human Nature and Values, Walter De Gruyter. 2004.
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Action |
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action |
Normative Ethics |