Intimacy, Admirability, and Virtue: An Examination of Michael Slote's View

• Authors: Munir Talukder
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Virtues, according to Michael Slote, are our inner traits or dispositions. Slote defends "balanced caring" as an admirable character trait. He believes that caring more for intimates than others is admirable. A virtuous person attains balanced caring between intimates and others. This account of virtue conceived "balanced caring" as "fundamentally admirable" and it is the basic virtue. All other virtues, such as honesty, kindness, generosity, truthfulness, and so forth, are "derivatively admirable". This paper examines Slote's view and argues that Slote should explore the opposite situation because his idea of "balanced caring" and "admirability" is so vague and misleading. In contrast to his ideas, a reverse formulation that is caring for others more than for intimates seems plausible.

Keywords

EN

admirable; balanced caring; character traits; intimate; others

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 43-51

Dates

published

2010-03-01

online

2010-03-18

Contributors

author

Munir Talukder

• Department of Philosophy, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh

References

• Aristotle. FromThe Nicomachean Ethics. In S. Darwall (Ed.). Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 7-50, 2003.
• Arnett, R. C., Arneson, P.Dialogic Civility in a Cynical Age: Community, Hope, and Interpersonal Relationships. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999.
• Baron, M. W., Pettit, P., Slote, M.Three Methods of Ethics: A Debate. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.
• Blum, L. A. Gilligan and Kohlberg: Implications for Moral Theory. In M. J. Larrabee (Ed.). An Ethic of Care: Feminist and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Routledge, 49-68, 1993.
• Copp, D., Sobel, D. Morality and Virtue: An Assessment of Some Recent Work in Virtue Ethics. Ethics 114, 514-554, 2004.
• Gilligan, C. Moral Orientation and Moral Development. In M. Timmons (Ed.). Conduct and Character: Readings in Moral Theory. Ontario: Thomson Wadsworth, 228-237, 2003.
• Hursthouse, R.On Virtue Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Kawall, J. Virtue Theory, Ideal Observers, and The Supererogatory. Philosophical Studies 146, 179-196, 2009.[WoS]
• Noddings, N. An Ethic of Caring. In M. Timmons (Ed.). Conduct and Character: Readings in Moral Theory. Ontario: Thomson Wadsworth, 244-255, 2003.
• Slote, M.From Morality to Virtue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• Slote, M.Morals from Motives. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Slote, M. Agent-Based Virtue Ethics. In S. Darwall (Ed.).Virtue Ethics. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 203-226, 2003.
• Slote, M. Autonomy and Empathy.Social Philosophy and Policy 21, 293-309, 2004.
• Slote, M.The Ethics of Care and Empathy. New York: Routledge, 2007.
• Tong, R.Feminine and Feminist Ethics. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10023-010-0005-0