The Indispensability of Character
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23136332 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joel J Kupperman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 239-250 |
| Publication date | 2001-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8191 • E-ISSN: 1469-817X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0031819101000250 |
| OpenAlex | W2132755746 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
Gilbert Harman has argued that it does not make sense to ascribe character traits to people. The notion of morally virtuous character becomes particularly suspect. How plausible this is depends on how broad character traits would have to be. Views of character as entirely invariant behavioural tendencies offer a soft target. This paper explores a view that is a less easy target: character traits as specific to kinds of situation, and as involving probabilities or real possibilities. Such ascriptions are not undermined by Harman's arguments, and it remains plausible that the agent's character often is indispensable in explanation of behaviour. Character is indispensable also as processes of control that impose reliability where it really matters.
Character (mathematics) · Character traits · Epistemology · Suspect · Mathematics · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology
The fundamental attribution error and Harman's case against character traits
The moral psychology handbook
Character as Moral Fiction
Situationism and Virtue Ethics on the Content of Our Character
Strokes of Luck
Heated agreement
Virtue in a time of depraved ideals
Commonsense morality and the bearable automaticity of being
A Virtue-Based Framework to Support Putting AI Ethics into Practice
The Emotional Construction of Morals
What's Character Got to Do with It
Social Psychology, Moral Character, and Moral Fallibility
Replies
The Fundamental Attribution Error and Harman's Case against Character Traits
Virtue ethics and situationism
Critiquing - and Rescuing - 'Character
(Re)sourcing the Character and Resilience Manifesto
| Citations per year | 0.77 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2025 (22) |
| Highly cited | No |