現代徳倫理学における徳の一性

実践的知性と徳の多様性をめぐって

抄録

　The unity of virtue thesis, which states that the various virtues only hold different names for the same concept, has a long history of controversy and is among the most debated issues in contemporary virtue ethics. This idea, and especially when interpreted as implying that an individual cannot possess a virtue without possessing all the other virtues, sounds implausible from common experiences. One dominant interpretation is that various virtues originate from the same state of soul, from a sort of perceptual capacity. McDowell, one of the leading advocates for the traditional Aristotelian formulation of the thesis, holds that each virtue is a form of reliable sensitivity to a certain sort of requirement from situations. 　This article aims to explore the role of practical wisdom（phronesis）upon the unity of virtue（s）in contemporary discussions. By showing how the unity of virtue is compatible with the plurality and diversity of virtues under the direction of practical wisdom, I intend to clarify the issue surrounding the unity of virtue from a new perspective, thereby paving a way toward re-constructing a new foundation for moral education, focusing on moral virtues as an integrated entity, rather than as discrete dispositions. 　First, upon more closely examining the conundrums that the unity of virtue thesis poses for virtue ethics, I identify the problems which may put the feasibility of the virtuous person, the central feature of virtue ethics, at stake. Second, I examine the ideas of two main contemporary virtue-ethicists, Russell and Annas, focusing on their views of the nature of practical wisdom and its relation to the virtues as clusters. Third, I indicate the unity as a unified, open whole, involving practical wisdom which integrates the different moral requirements of a concrete context with the agent’s appreciation of the situation’s features. 　In conclusion, by drawing from the implications that the advocates of the unity of virtue thesis in contemporary virtue ethics agree that the moral virtues are closely connected, it is worthwhile to conceive virtue cultivation as being based upon the developing of practical wisdom, which involves reflection and insight on how to live well.