Module 4: Moral Character and Moral
Development
I. Moral Character
 What is Moral Character?
 The term character comes from the ancient
Greek term charaktêr, which initially
referred to the mark impressed upon a coin.
 Charaktêr later came to refer more
generally to any distinctive feature by which
one thing is distinguished from others.
 A set of qualities or characteristics that
can be used to differentiate between
persons, commonly used in literature.
 In philosophy, the term character is typically
used to refer to the particularly moral
dimension of a person.
 Aristotle most often used the term ēthē for
character, which is etymologically linked to
“ethics” and “morality”
 At the heart of one major approach to ethics
– an approach counting among its
proponents Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and
Aquinas is the conviction that ethics is
fundamentally related to what kind of
persons we are.
 We can think of one’s moral character as
primarily a function of whether she has or
lacks various moral virtues and vices.
 Virtues and vices that comprise one’s moral
character are typically understood as
dispositions to behave in certain ways in
certain sorts of circumstances.
 One could approach moral character
primarily by focusing on standards set by
normative ethics; whether people can or do
live up to these standards is irrelevant.
 Aristotle’s discussion of moral character,
particularly virtue, is the most influential
treatment of such issues. His discussion will
be used as a beginning point.
 The Greek word used by Aristotle and most
commonly translated as virtue is aretē,
which is perhaps better translated as
“goodness” or “excellence”
 Aristotle’s phrase for the excellences of
character is ēthikē aretē, literally “virtue of
character”, and is sometimes translated as
“moral virtue”
 The subject of moral character belogs to
virtue theory more generally, which is the
philosophical examination of notions related
to the virtues.
 Roger Crisp distinguishes virtue ethics and
virtue theory:
 “Virtue theory is the area of
inquiry concerned with the
virtues in general; virtue
ethics is narrower and
prescriptive, and consists
primarily in the advocacy of
the virtues”
 Virtue ethics is a sub-species of virtue theory
insofar as the former attempts to base ethics
on evaluation of virtue.
 Character and Three Major Approaches
to Ethics *3 major approaches to normative
ethics
 Consequentialism – is the
idea that the moral action is
the one that produces the best
consequences.
 Deontological – morality is
primarily a function of duties
or obligations, regardless of
the consequences of acting in
accordance with those duties.
 Virtue – give primacy of
importance not to rules, but
to particular habits of
character such as the virtue of
courage or the vice of greed.
 A moral character trait is a character trait for
which the agent is morally responsible.
 Moral responsibility: to be morally
responsible is to be deserving of the reactive
attitudes.
 Reactive attitudes can be
either positive (in cases of
moral praise, gratitude,
respect, love) or negative (in
cases of moral blame,
resentment, in-dignation)
 Most work on moral responsibility has
focused on an agent’s responsibility for her
actions.
 A Traditional View of Moral Character
 Dispositions are particular
kinds of properties or
characteristics that objects
can possess
 Moral character traits are
those dispositions of
character for which it is
appropriate to hold agents
morally responsible.
 A trait for which the
agent is deserving of a
positive reactive attitude,
such as praise or gratitude, is
a virtue, and a vice is a trait
for which the agent is
deserving of a negative
reactive attitude, such as
resentment or blame.
Moral character traits
are relatively stable and
reliable dispositions, and thus
should be reasonably good
predictors over time of an
agent’s behavior if that agent
is in a trait-relevant situation.
Moral character traits
are not just dispositions to
engage in certain outward
behaviors; they can also be
dispositions to have certain
emotions or affections.
In order for a moral
character trait to be a virtue,
it must not only be in accord
with the relevant moral
norms, but the disposition
must also be informed by
proper reasoning about the
matter at hand.
 Three Central Features