Virtue Ethics

Virtue is a condition of a person's character. Having virtue makes doing the right thing the obvious choice among options. Having virtue means that immoral courses of action are ruled out, and this quickens decision making. Virtuous persons would have already determined that they ought to do only whatever is right in a situation. If a person has virtue, this means that he or she does not merely have good intentions but has the ability to act on them. People who manage to be consistently ethical are likely to have virtue to some degree. Those who knowingly act immorally lack virtue. And those who cannot tell the difference between wrong and right lack virtue.

Whether virtue is a set of qualities or just one; whether virtue is a permanent state of character or a temporary condition; whether virtue is the result of [Page 2191]a conscious or unconscious process of development, inborn or merely a matter of culture—these are matters for the various authors of virtue ethics to determine. Authors must also decide how virtue relates to an account of right action. Either a description of virtue serves as an addendum to other ethical approaches, and the moral psychology required for virtue is not invoked in a determination of right and wrong, or the requirements of virtue alone determine what right action is. Virtue ethics may be more or less theoretical. The more theoretical accounts revise our commonsense opinions on good character. The less theoretical accounts endorse commonsense notions. Though every contemporary account of virtue derives some inspiration from the ancient accounts, most contemporary accounts are less theoretical than these and more dependent on the criteria of ethics and justice offered by alternative approaches.

There are particular challenges to determining the morality of business decisions and policies with an account of virtue. The description of a virtuous businessperson has utility, of course. The qualities that contribute to a company's success are not always recognized or well understood. Companies may be encouraged to foster or better reward these traits. Yet specific guidelines for business decisions and policies have not, thus far, been traced back to compatibility with a recommended moral psychology. This means that most often virtue serves only as an addendum to other determinations of what is ethical in business. Whatever the role of virtue in ethical theory, further empirical research into the connections between institutional practice and good behavior is sure to be a boon to the study of virtue.