Abstract:

Neo-Aristotelianism is the major paradigm of contemporary virtue ethics. It must not only construct its theories of action and motive based on the critique of modern moral philosophy, but also establish the conceptual standard of virtue to answer the question of “what kind of character trait can be regarded as a virtue”. As one of important Neo-Aristotelian scholars, Rosalind Hursthouse assumes three interrelated propositions: first, a virtue benefits its possessor; second, a virtue makes its possessor a good human being; third, the above two features are interrelated. Hursthouse identifies the first proposition as a suggestion with high probability, puts the second one into a vision of ethical naturalism, and takes Aristotle’s theory of human nature as the foundation of the third one. With these strategies, Hursthouse makes the response to the given challenges, and provides justification and defense for her Neo-Aristotelian theory of virtue.

Key words: Neo-Aristotelianism, character trait, virtue standard, ethical naturalism