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There could hardly have been a more influential twentieth-century philosophical essay than Elizabeth Anscombe's 'Modern moral philosophy', in which she condemned the prevailing and competing ethics of duty and utility of her day and urged moral philosophers to abandon the search for any general conception of 'morality' in favour of return to Aristotle's more particular focus on virtue and virtues as powers or qualities of good human character. While moral philosophers have not been slow to rally to this banner—with timely and useful attention to a wide range of character virtues—it was inevitable that moral educationalists would also soon turn towards understanding virtuous character to be a prime if not main concern of moral education. However, without denying that recent moral philosophical attention to virtue and virtues has been worthwhile, it is crucial to appreciate that in and of themselves such qualities mostly fall short of moral status and value and that some independent criterion of the moral cannot, as Anscombe recommended, be renounced. In this spirit, the present paper also attempts to comprehend such moral and educational significance by reference to interlinked concepts of love, knowledge and justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore the characteristic reason that motivates a virtuously honest person to perform honest actions. I critically examine previous accounts of honesty's characteristic motivating reason, including Christian Miller's pluralistic account, which allows various virtuous motivating reasons to count as honesty's motivation. I then introduce the respect for the right not to be deceived as the moral ground that characteristically motivates a virtuously honest person's honest action. After addressing possible objections, I conclude by discussing its educational implications on cultivating the virtue of honesty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust literature indicates that when people feel that they are expressing and aware of their true selves, they show enhanced psychological health and well-being. This feeling, commonly referred to as authenticity, is therefore a consequential experience. In this paper, we review a program of research focused on the relevance of authenticity for civic engagement. We describe how a virtuous orientation to civic engagement might make civic actions feel more authentic and how the experience of authenticity might help sustain civic behavior. We then discuss the role that education might play in fostering a deeper connection between civic engagement and the subjective experience of authenticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological research has revealed that there is a strong tendency for people to believe that they have a 'true self', and to believe that this true self is inherently morally good. This would seemingly be very good news for virtue theorists, since this may help to promote virtue development. While there are some obvious benefits to people having morality intrinsically tied to their sense of self, in this paper I want to suggest instead that there may also be some significant drawbacks, especially when it comes to motivating virtue development and moral improvement. In part this stems from people's belief in their own inherent moral goodness being merely assumed (as part of one's core identity), rather than earned (say through reliably good moral behavior). This disconnection between identity and behavior can result in attempts to reinforce one's identity as morally good, at the expense of virtuous behavior or self-improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-determination theory, like other psychological theories that study eudaimonia, focuses on general processes of growth and self-realization. An aspect that tends to be sidelined in the relevant literature is virtue. We propose that special focus needs to be placed on moral virtue and its development. We review different types of moral motivation and argue that morally virtuous behavior is regulated through integrated regulation. We describe the process of moral integration and how it relates to the development of moral virtue. We then discuss what morally virtuous individuals are like, what shape their internal moral system is expected to take and introduce moral self-concordance. We consider why morally virtuous individuals are expected to experience eudaimonic well-being. Finally, we address the current gap in self-determination theory research on eudaimonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, conducted at a midsize university, focused on the virtue of tolerance as it relates to an often-neglected area of diversity—diversity of conscience—defined as 'legitimate differences of moral and religious conscience'. Tolerance is essential for fostering civility in our increasingly diverse societies and for promoting the free exchange of perspectives central to the mission of higher education. A short whiteboard animation video was created in an effort to teach the concept of tolerance of diversity of conscience in an engaging way. This video was embedded in an online workshop that also presented the cardinal virtues as accountability parameters for civil dialogue. The results from pre- and post-workshop questionnaires revealed that students increased in self-reported understanding of the concepts, and were able to apply knowledge of the concepts, thus providing support that this modality may be a useful first step in teaching tolerance of diversity of conscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence has been highlighted as a significant period in an individual's character development and autonomous decision-making. Social cognitive theories of character emphasise the importance of the interaction between person and context in making decisions which promote the good. A Grounded Theory methodology was used to explore how adolescents apply their virtue beliefs when faced with moral dilemmas, an ability which has been called 'practical wisdom' in some theories of character development. Eighteen participants aged 12–15 took part in interviews to explore their moral decision-making processes. The findings suggest the interaction between adolescents' virtue beliefs and contextual factors can vary according to the individual's prior experience, the factors salient to them within the immediate context (particularly social and emotional factors) and the weight they assign to possible consequences of their decisions. The study concludes that adolescents' moral decision-making processes vary between individuals and across situations, with social cognitive theories of decision-making offering a possible explanation for these variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last century, higher education has witnessed a shift away from explicit character education. Although scholarship has recently reemerged on the importance of character in college, there are almost no empirical investigations of courses intentionally designed to impact student character at the college level. The current study examines an innovative course intervention called 'Commencing Character' designed to intentionally teach 16 target virtues through direct instruction, application of seven research-based strategies of character development, and engagement with over 40 commencement addresses focused on character. Comparing pre- and post-course self-reports, results indicated significant group differences in the development of seven targeted virtues when comparing students in the course (n = 31) to a control group (n = 49). These results show that a course focused explicitly on character in a way that is developmentally- and contextually-sensitive can promote the development of specific virtues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My remarks will outline, from a philosopher's perspective, challenges and opportunities that I see for a science of virtue. I will touch on three topics: (1) ensuring that the studies are philosophically useful; (2) grappling with issues of measurement; and (3) next steps in moving a science of virtue forward. I approach (1) and (2) through reflections on some recent uses of psychology by philosophers and of philosophy by psychologists; and will argue in part (3) that next steps should entail certain kinds of educational efforts to promote interdisciplinary research. An example is that recently undertaken in a program by the Society of Christian Philosophers that offers opportunities for focused psychological training to philosophy graduate students. These and similar efforts could have far-reaching impacts for the emergence of a philosophically informed science of virtue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this wise and creative book, Wright, Warren, and Snow propose a path-breaking interdisciplinary research program that promises to ground a mature science of moral virtue. Their theoretical framework and ideas for measurement are designed to guide psychologists as they study the individual traits that people have, the ways that traits interact or conflict, and the ways they change over time. While lauding the authors' impressive achievements, I criticize the contentious Aristotelian assumptions they build into their program. I argue that the science of virtue will be better served if researchers restrict themselves to more neutral assumptions and convert philosophically contentious views into competing empirical hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a tendency for research on morality to focus on the individual, sometimes at the expense of context, using overly individual notions of the person. To some extent, this is an understandable consequence of disciplinary focus, and a scientific need to break phenomena down into manageable parts. I will advocate incorporating sociological perspectives for researching morality and cultivating states of moral character. This interdisciplinary approach is informed by a small group of scholars working in the spirit of virtue ethics philosophy while also adopting sociological perspectives. With a special focus on sociological habitus and philosophical hexis, improved treatment of social and contextual factors in morality research and moral education are the suggested applications for these important interdisciplinary advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]