Virtue, Narrative, and Self: Explorations of Character in the Philosophy of Mind and Action (Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory)

269 Pages·2020·3.519 MB·English

by  Joseph Ulatowski (editor), Liezl van Zyl (editor)

Virtue, Narrative, and Self
Virtue, Narrative, and Self connects two philosophical areas of study that
have long been treated as distinct: virtue theory and narrative accounts of
personal identity. Chapters address several important issues and neglected
themes at the intersection of these research areas. Specific examples include
the role of narrative in the identification, differentiation, and cultivation
of virtue, the nature of practical reasoning and moral competence, and
the influence of life’s narrative structure on our conceptions of what it
means to live and act well. This volume demonstrates how recent work
from the philosophy of mind and action concerning narrativity and our
understanding of the self can shed new light on questions about the
nature of virtue, practical wisdom, and human flourishing.
This book will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working
in virtue theory, moral philosophy, philosophy of mind and action, and
moral education.
Joseph Ulatowski is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Director of the
Experimental Philosophy Research Group at the University of Waikato,
New Zealand. He is the author of Why Facts Matter: Facts and Pluralism
in the Age of Fake News (forthcoming) and Commonsense Pluralism
about Truth: An Empirical Defence (Palgrave, 2017).
Liezl van Zyl is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Waikato, New Zealand. She is the author of Virtue Ethics: A Contemporary
Introduction (Routledge, 2018) and Death and Compassion: A Virtue-
based Approach to Euthanasia (Routledge, 2000).
Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory
An Intersectional Feminist Theory of Moral Responsibility
Michelle Ciurria
The Principle of Double Effect
A History and Philosophical Defense
David Černý
Apologies and Moral Repair
Rights, Duties, and Corrective Justice
Andrew I. Cohen
Kantian and Sidgwickian Ethics
The Cosmos of Duty Above and the Moral Law Within
Edited by Tyler Paytas and Tim Henning
Cultivating Our Passionate Attachments
Matthew J. Dennis
Reason and Ethics
The Case Against Objective Value
Joel Marks
Offense and Offensiveness
A Philosophical Account
Andrew Sneddon
Virtue, Narrative, and Self
Explorations of Character in the Philosophy of Mind and Action
Edited by Joseph Ulatowski and Liezl van Zyl
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Ethics-and-Moral-Theory/book-series/SE0423
Virtue, Narrative, and Self
Explorations of Character in the
Philosophy of Mind and Action
Edited by Joseph Ulatowski
and Liezl van Zyl
F irst published 2021
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1 Virtue, Narrative, and Self: An Introduction 1
JOSEPH ULATOWSKI AND LIEZL VAN ZYL
2 Virtue Ethics and Narrative Virtue 19
CHRISTINE SWANTON
3 Narrative Virtues and Second-Order Reasons 35
GARRETT CULLITY
4 Narrative Virtue Ethics? 54
RAMON DAS
5 How Self-Narratives and Virtues Cause Actions 69
DAVID LUMSDEN AND JOSEPH ULATOWSKI
6 Virtue Ethics, Narrative, and Revisionary Accounts
of Rightness 91
JASON KAWALL
7 Virtuous Perception: A Gibsonian Approach 117
RICHARD PAUL HAMILTON
8 Virtue Ethics, Blameworthiness, and Role Failure 140
JUSTIN OAKLEY
9 Well-Being, Narrative Value, and Virtue Ethics 151
NICHOLAS RYAN SMITH
viii Contents
10 On the Value of Moral Failure 170
DAMIAN COX
11 Who Wrote Nietzsche’s Autobiography? 185
ELIJAH MILLGRAM
12 The Abnegated Self 214
NELLIE WIELAND
13 Integrity and Messy Lives 230
TIM DARE
List of Contributors 246
Index 251
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the financial support we received from the Univer-
sity of Waikato’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean’s Office to
host a conference in 2017 on “Virtue, Narrative, and Agency.” The work
that appears here is a consequence of conversations and discussions that
arose during and after that conference. We would like to acknowledge
the generous support of Allison Kirkman, the Dean’s Office staff, and
the Philosophy Programme’s administrative assistant Paula Maynard. We
also want to thank the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute.
Much of the work associated with the volume’s assembly would not have
been possible without the generous support Joseph received as a Visiting
Faculty Research Fellow at the Institute.
We also greatly appreciate the editorial team at Routledge, especially
Andrew Weckenmann and Allie Simmons, who deserve special recogni-
tion for their unwavering support for this project and helping see to its
completion during a global pandemic that has manifested in some selves
the most virtuous conduct but in others the most vicious and callous
behaviour.
Finally, Liezl would like to thank her family, Paul, John, Alex, and
Tessa, for their love and kindness and occasional technical support.
Joseph is grateful to his family, Tiffany, Lucjan, and Anja, who were an
immutable source of love, encouragement, and inspiration while he was
drafting, revising, and finishing his contribution to this volume. Without
them, no narrative merits to be told and no virtuous character worthy of
cultivation.