Ebook: The Oxford Handbook of Virtue

This volume provides a representative overview of philosophical work on virtue. It is divided into seven parts: conceptualizations of virtue, historical and religious accounts, contemporary virtue ethics and theories of virtue, central concepts and issues, critical examinations, applied virtue ethics, and virtue epistemology. Forty-two chapters by distinguished contributors offer insights and directions for further research. The volume is unique in bringing together work on virtue ethics and virtue epistemology, thereby providing an overview of the most recent thinking on virtue in the field of philosophy. It explores writing on virtue in the work of western historical figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hume, Nietzsche, Kant, and the utilitarians, and includes chapters on Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, and Confucian and Neo-Confucian approaches to virtue ethics. Chapters on neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics and alternatives to it, such as sentimentalism, are also included, as well as work in applied virtue ethics in areas such as medical ethics, business ethics, environmentalism, jurisprudence, sexual ethics, and communication ethics. Objections to virtue ethics and central virtue ethical themes, such as motivation, are also addressed. Chapters on key virtue epistemological themes are also featured in the volume, and a nod toward the emerging field of applied virtue epistemology is given.