TY - JOUR
T1 - Realistic virtues and how to study them
T2 - Introducing the STRIVE-4 model
AU - Cokelet, Bradford
AU - Fowers, Blaine
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - This article argues that ordinary virtue trait attributions presuppose the existence of realistic traits that fall short of, for example, Aristotelian ideals and that debate about the existence of virtue traits should be reoriented in the light of this fact. After clarifying and motivating that basic thesis, we discuss what the existing psychological research shows about the existence of realistic traits and how future psychological research could be designed to show more. Our first conclusion is that current psychological research (weakly) supports virtue trait optimism not skepticism. Our second conclusion is that psychologists will need to adopt new models and conduct new studies before they can convincingly answer questions about the existence, development and normative significance of virtue traits. In short, we argue that there is no mature science of virtue today but that we can and should develop one. We end by presenting our STRIVE-4 Model, which is designed to guide future work.
AB - This article argues that ordinary virtue trait attributions presuppose the existence of realistic traits that fall short of, for example, Aristotelian ideals and that debate about the existence of virtue traits should be reoriented in the light of this fact. After clarifying and motivating that basic thesis, we discuss what the existing psychological research shows about the existence of realistic traits and how future psychological research could be designed to show more. Our first conclusion is that current psychological research (weakly) supports virtue trait optimism not skepticism. Our second conclusion is that psychologists will need to adopt new models and conduct new studies before they can convincingly answer questions about the existence, development and normative significance of virtue traits. In short, we argue that there is no mature science of virtue today but that we can and should develop one. We end by presenting our STRIVE-4 Model, which is designed to guide future work.
KW - Alfano
KW - character
KW - Doris
KW - Miller
KW - psychological realism
KW - Virtue
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056088603&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85056088603&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03057240.2018.1528971
DO - 10.1080/03057240.2018.1528971
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056088603
JO - Journal of Moral Education
JF - Journal of Moral Education
SN - 0305-7240
ER -