1. Donationbbarr
    Chief Justice
    Center of Contention
    Joined
    14 Jun '02
    Moves
    17381
    27 May '08 20:39
    Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
    Thanks for the definition. Do you have a conceptual model for the inner workings of "character"? For example, it can be viewed as a function of selfishness vs. virtue where the two are inversely proportional.
    I conceive of the virtues as just good traits of character; traits that are admirable and that are, in normal circumstances, the most reliable bets to one's flourishing. But I do not think that the virtuous are generally motivated by considerations of their own flourishing. Rather, the virtuous are motivated in accord with the deliverances of their character. So, compassion is a virtue (and we can tell a complicated story about why this is, what compassion allows us to do, how it helps solve problems that generally arise in our interactions, how it allows us to more successfully pursue our ends, etc.), but the cultivation of compassion is, in part, the cultivation of the disposition to take the suffering of others as bad; as something to be alleviated, and the disposition to be motivated on that basis.
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