A Thomistic Account of Virtue as Expertise

A healthy Thomism is one engaged with the discoveries and challenges of other traditions and disciplines. In this article I argue for one way of integrating Thomistic ethics and recent work in psychology. I assert that Thomists should think of virtue as a kind of expertise, something that psychologists have studied for decades. First, I provide context and motivation for my integration project. Next, I offer a definition of expertise and contrast it with recent discussions of skill and Aristotle's account of techne. Third, I argue that virtue and expertise are deeply similar. Finally, I conclude by showing some benefits of considering virtue to be a kind of expertise for virtue formation

Engineering ethics · Environmental ethics · Epistemic virtue · Epistemology · Phronesis · Sociology · Techne · Thomism · Virtue · Virtue ethics · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil