Understanding Virtue: Theory and Measurement

by Jennifer Cole Wright, Michael T. Warren, Nancy E. Snow

Overview

The last thirty years have seen a resurgence of interest in virtue among philosophers, psychologists, and educators. Over time, this interdisciplinary conversation has included character cultivation and education, in addition to more abstract, theoretical discussions of virtue.

As is often the case when various disciplinary endeavors become entwined, this renewed interest in virtue cultivation faces an important challenge—namely, meeting the varying requirements imposed by different disciplinary standards. For virtue in particular, this means developing an account that practitioners from multiple disciplines find sufficiently rigorous, substantive, and useful.

This volume represents a response to this interdisciplinary challenge. This co-authored book not only provides a framework for quantifying virtues, but also explores how we can understand virtue in a philosophically-informed way that is compatible with the best thinking available in personality psychology. Its objective is twofold: first, drawing on whole trait theory in psychology and Aristotelian virtue ethics, it offers accounts of virtue and character that are both philosophically sound and psychologically realistic. Second, the volume presents strategies for how virtue and character can be translated into empirically measurable variables and, thus, measured systematically, relying on the insights from the latest research in personality, social, developmental, and cognitive psychology, and psychological science more broadly.

This volume presents a major contribution to the emerging science of virtue measurement and character, demonstrating just how philosophical understanding and psychological research can enrich each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190655136
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/20/2020
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jennifer Cole Wright is Professor of Psychology at the College of Charleston, as well as an Affiliate Member of both the Philosophy Department and the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program. She is also currently a Sustainability and Social Justice Faculty Fellow with the Honors College. She is the editor of an interdisciplinary volume on Humility (Oxford University Press, 2019) and has co-edited, with Hagop Sarkissian, Advances in Experimental Moral Psychology (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014).

Michael T. Warren is a developmental psychologist serving as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Human Early Learning Partnership at the University of British Columbia, as well as an instructor in the Psychology Department at Western Washington University. His work on the development of virtues and mindfulness has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Adolescence, International Journal of Behavioral Development, and The Journal of Positive Psychology.

Nancy E. Snow is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing at the University of Oklahoma. She is the author of Virtue as Social Intelligence: An Empirically Grounded Theory (Routledge, 2010) and over forty-five papers on virtue and ethics more broadly. She has also edited or co-edited seven volumes: In the Company of Others: Perspectives on Community, Family, and Culture (Rowman & Littlefield,1996), Legal Philosophy: Multiple Perspectives with Larry May and Angela Bolte (Mayfield, 1999), Stem Cell Research: New Frontiers in Science and Ethics (Notre Dame, 2004), Cultivating Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology (Oxford, 2014), The Philosophy and Psychology of Character and Happiness with Franco V. Trivigno (Routledge, 2014), Developing the Virtues: Integrating Perspectives with Julia Annas and Darcia Narvaez (Oxford 2016), and The Oxford Handbook of Virtue (2018). She is the series editor of "The Virtues," a book series published by Oxford University Press featuring interdisciplinary volumes on virtues or clusters of virtues.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Our Working Model of Virtue
Chapter 2: Strategies for Measuring Virtue: A Literature Review and Critique
Chapter 3: Strategies for Measuring Virtues
Chapter 4: Integrating Virtues-Our Conception of Character
Chapter 5: Strategies for Character Measurement
Conclusion
Supplemental materials available on a companion website

Editorial Reviews

"It is a pioneering study, and will appeal to anyone interested in the scientific study of virtue." — R. White, CHOICE

"Discourses on conceptualizations and measurements of virtue(s) within philosophy and psychology tend to run on parallel tracks with only the barest mutual acknowledgement — to the detriment of both disciplines. Here is finally a book that integrates insights from those two discursive fields in innovative and exciting ways. The authors have opened up a whole new chapter in the history of virtue research. This is moral psychology, in its broadest sense, at its best." — Kristján Kristjánsson, Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics, University of Birmingham

"Many scholars in recent years have undertaken interdisciplinary studies on virtue, yet few have succeeded in undertaking meaningful and deep collaborative work that truly speaks to multiple disciplines. Wright, Warren and Snow is a rare example of this difficult approach done right. Their thoughtful insights on what virtue is and how it should be measured represents a groundbreaking achievement and an admirable standard for future studies. This book is a must-read for both social scientists working in morality and philosophers interested in empirically-informed accounts of virtue." — Eranda Jayawickreme, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Senior Research Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University

"If you want to know how to make a deep, coherent, and intellectually sound contribution to two disciplines with one theory, read this book. Wright, Warren, and Snow knowledgeably consider the arguments from both philosophy and psychology about a wide range of theories, claims, and assessments of virtues and propose an outstanding and ambitious plan for future scholarship. And they do it all in an engaging and crystal clear style." — William Fleeson, Hultquist Family Professor of Psychology, Wake Forest University

From the Publisher