Iris murdoch and the varieties of virtue ethics

Abstract

The contemporary revival of virtue ethics is usually traced to such philosophers as Elizabeth Anscombe, Bernard Williams and Alasdair MacIntyre responsible for, respectively, the well-known critique of “modern moral philosophy” (Anscombe 1958), criticism of “the peculiar institution” of morality (Williams 1985/2006) and the “disquieting suggestion” (MacIntyre 1981/2007) that contemporary so-called moral philosophy is not moral philosophy in any proper sense of the term. I am greatly indebted to the assistance of David Carr, who has helped me to substantially improve this paper.