From Personality to Virtue : Essays on the Philosophy of Character

Character plays a central role in our everyday understanding and evaluation of ourselves and one another. It informs the expectations that ground our plans and projects, our moral responses to other people's behaviour and to opportunities we ourselves face, and our political decisions concerning formal education, criminal punishment, and other aspects of social organisation. The very 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 for criminal punishment. They bring together a range of issues in contemporary philosophy, including the nature of agency, the modelling of behavioural cognition, 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, challenging the tendency among personality psychologists and virtue ethicists alike to focus on static snapshots of traits, and they emphasise the close integration of character with the individual's social context, seeking to accommodate the situationist experimental findings within a picture of behaviour as manifesting stable character traits. The volume is intended to demonstrate the deep conceptual affinity of moral philosophy and social psychology and the consequent potential for each to benefit from the other. Cover 1 From Personality to Virtue: Essays on the Philosophy of Character 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Contributors 8 Introduction 12 Works Cited 19 1: Character, Punishment,and the Liberal Order 20 1.1 21 1.2 23 1.3 25 1.4 30 1.5 34 1.6 43 Works Cited 44 2: Virtue Ethics and Criminal Punishment 46 2.1 Introduction 46 2.2 Contemporary Formulationsof Character Traits 48 2.3 Criminal Character 51 2.4 Virtue and Punishment: an Example 54 2.5 Isolation Sanctions and Current Chemical Castration Programs 61 2.5.1 Isolation sanctions 61 2.5.2 Chemical castration 63 2.6 Objections to the Use of Virtue Theory as a Constraint on Criminal Law 67 2.7 Conclusion 69 Acknowledgements 70 Works Cited 70 3: Character, Will, and Agency 73 3.1 Toward a Single Theory of Agency 74 3.2 Forms of Eliminativism 78 3.3 Distinct Roles 81 3.4 The Single Phenomenon View 85 Works Cited 90 4: Practical Necessity and Personality 92 4.1 Experiences of Personal Necessity as Focal Points of Character 93 4.2 Practical Necessity: Practical Reason or Personality? 96 4.2.1 Kant’s moral necessity and the necessities of self-government 97 4.2.2 Personal necessities and the limit of ‘becoming another person’ 100 4.2.3 The criteria of autonomy and authenticity 103 4.3 Personal Necessity and the Demands of Interpersonal Relationships 106 4.3.1 No alternative?—Limits of understanding 107 4.3.2 A call for respect, a call for justification, and a call for the ‘reformability’ of the self 110 4.3.3 A call for exceptions from the rule (that prove the rule) 112 Works Cited 115 5: Implicit Bias, Character,and Control 117 5.1 Character, Evaluation, and Implicit Bias 118 5.2 Control Conditions and Implicit Bias 121 5.2.1 Direct control 121 5.2.2 Unified agency and reflective control 122 5.2.3 Alienation and evaluative control 124 5.2.4 Intervention control 126 5.3 Clark on Ecological Control 127 5.3.1 Motivating the idea 127 5.3.2 Developing Clark’s model 130 5.4 Ecological Control and Implicit Bias 131 5.4.1 Environmental props consciously employed for guiding cognitive processes 132 5.4.2 Cognitive props consciously employed for guiding cognitive processes 133 5.4.3 Automatic processes as props unconsciously employed for guiding cognitive processes 133 5.4.4 Two challenges 135 5.5 Character and Self-Regulation with Ecological Control 137 5.5.1 Ecological control and epistemic conditions 137 5.5.2 Intervention control on an ecological model 138 5.5.3 Character development on an ecological model 139 5.6 Concluding Remarks 140 Works Cited 141 6: Instilling Virtue 145 6.1 Situational Manipulation and Implicit Bias 145 6.2 Evaluative Judgements and the Cognitive-Affective Personality System 148 6.3 Moral Choice Blindness 150 6.4 Strength and Influence in Attitude Psychology 152 6.5 Attitude Strength and Consistent Judgement 154 6.6 The Negative Programme of Moral Improvement 157 6.7 The Positive Programme of Moral Improvement 160 Works Cited 164 7: Does the CAPS Model Improve Our Understanding of Personality and Character? 166 7.1 Some Commonsense Assumptions 167 7.2 The CAPS Approach 170 7.3 The CAPS Model and Traits 180 7.4 Final Thoughts on the CAPS Model 185 Works Cited 191 8: Friendship and the Structureof Trust 197 8.1 Introduction 197 8.2 The Relational Nature of Friendship 198 8.3 Motivating the Friendship Model 201 8.3.1 The historical motive 201 8.3.2 The moral psychological motive 202 8.3.3 The empirical motive 204 8.3.4 The externalist motive 205 8.4 Trustworthiness on the Friendship Model 206 8.4.1 The cunning mechanism 207 8.4.2 The self-concept mechanism 209 8.4.3 The hopeful mechanism 210 8.5 Conclusion 212 8.5.1 Summary of the argument thus far 212 8.5.2 Methodological remark 213 Works Cited 215 9: The Psychology of Virtue Education 218 9.1 Introduction 218 9.2 The Goals of Character Education 219 9.3 Situationism and Character Formation 222 9.4 Control the Situation, Shape the Character 225 9.5 Contexts of Situational Manipulations 227 9.6 Knowledge is Power 230 9.7 The Role of the Virtuous Agent 231 9.8 Conclusion 236 Works Cited 237 10: Mastering Wisdom 240 10.1 Competence and Mastery 242 10.2 Competence as Our DefaultNotion of Skill 243 10.3 The Advantages of Mastery 247 10.4 Why Virtue Should Not Be Modelledon Competence 250 10.5 Practical Wisdom as a Form of Mastery 254 10.6 Implications for Education 257 10.7 Building Wiser Institutions 259 Works Cited 264 Index 266 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. Character, Punishment, And The Liberal Order / Jonathan Jacobs -- Virtue Ethics And Criminal Punishment / Katrina L. Sifferd -- Character, Will, And Agency / Roman Altshuler -- Practical Necessity And Personality / Katharina Bauer -- Implicit Bias, Character, And Control / Jules Holroyd And Daniel Kelly -- Instilling Virtue / Jonathan Webber -- Does The Caps Model Improve Our Understanding Of Personality And Character? / Christian B. Miller -- Friendship And The Structure Of Trust / Mark Alfano -- The Psychology Of Virtue Education / Nafsika Athanassoulis -- Mastering Wisdom / Alberto Masala. Edited By Alberto Masala, Jonathan Webber. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The idea that people have persisting character traits that explain their behavior is woven throughout the fabric of our culture. These philosophical essays clarify this idea of character, analyze 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 modeling of behavioral 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 emphasize that character is inherently dynamic, and emphasize the close integration of character with the individual's social context-- Source other than Library of Congress Ten new essays illuminate the idea of character in relation to the findings of psychology and draw out the implications for our moral interactions, education, responsibility, and punishment. They explore the dynamic nature of character, its close integration with social context, and the conceptual affinity of moral philosophy and social psychology.