Unit:
Τομέας Φιλοσοφίας και Θεωρίας της Επιστήμης και της ΤεχνολογίαςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Καρακατσάνης Αναστάσιος
Dissertation committee:
Στέλιος Βιρβιδάκης Καθηγητής (Επιβλέπων), Κατερίνα Ιεροδιακόνου Καθηγήτρια, Φιλήμων Παιονίδης Καθηγητής
Original Title:
Νεο-Αριστοτελική Αρετολογική Ηθική: Εκδοχές και Αντιρρήσεις
Translated title:
Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics: Varieties and Objections
Summary:
In this dissertation, it is presented and analyzed both descriptively and
critically a particular version of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics of the
ethical naturalism proposed by Philippa Foot, Rosalind Hursthouse and Michael
Thompson. According to this proposal, moral goodness belongs to the type of
species-specific natural goodness analogous of that ascribed to other life
forms when they are evaluated according to their nature. Moral virtues in that
case are conceived to be those traits that make human beings good in the same
way that, mutandis mutatis, particular traits and functions make the members of
other life forms good. In consequence, this work focuses on the naturalistic
aspects of this philosophical line of thought, namely on the philosophical
foundation that grounds its claim to be a naturalistic approach. Objections,
stemming from evolutionary biology and social psychology, are examined and
rejected. Those objections question the naturalistic character of this approach
and the psychological realism of the virtues respectively. In parallel, the
prominence of a vital feature is highlighted, a feature supporting the
neo-Aristotelian construction of Foot, Hursthouse and Thompson in its
essentials and especially in relation to the analogy between rational and
non-rational animals. This feature is the concept of the natural habitat of
human beings.
The indeterminacy of the natural habitat of human beings renders the
determination of the human life form, and as a result also the determination of
virtues, not only a social but a political issue as well.
Keywords:
Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism, Virtue Ethics, Natural Goodness, Practical Rationality, Natural Habitat
Number of references:
399
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