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Implicit Virtues, Divergent Goods, Multiple Communities

Explicitly Addressing Virtues in the Behavioral Sciences

Muhlenberg College, tjelt{at}muhlenberg.edu

Developing good theory about virtues and character requires facing a major obstacle: Many behavioral scientists, including scientific, humanistic, and postmodern, oppose the very idea of virtue. Careful examination of their narratives, ideologies, practices, and communities suggests, however, that each clearly has notions about praiseworthy human characteristics, that is, about virtues. Concepts of virtues and character within a variety of behavioral science approaches are discussed and identified. Virtues are closely related to concepts of goodness and community, with different virtues linked to divergent concepts of the good and competing communities. The problems of implicit conceptions of virtue and the good are discussed. Explicit discussions of virtue, goodness, and multiple communities, it is argued, can help us develop the best possible accounts of character.

Key Words: virtues • character • ethics • goodness • community

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