From Personality to Virtue

de Jonathan Webber

The idea that people have persisting character traits that explain their behaviour is woven throughout the fabric of our culture. These philosophical essays clarify this idea of character, analyse its relation with the findings of experimental psychology, and draw out the implications of this for education and criminal punishment. They bring together a range of issues in contemporary philosophy, including the nature of agency, the modelling of behavioural cognition, the ethical implications of personal necessity, moral responsibility for implicit bias, the prospects for character education and the nature of rightful criminal punishment. The essays emphasise that character is inherently dynamic, and emphasise the close integration of character with the individual's social context.