Moral Frailty and Moral Luck
Psychological experiments and other empirical data seem to show that good traits of character (even if real) are frail, rather easily overcome by some types of temptation, and are dependent on social context and social support (and thus on ‘moral luck’) for their development, continuance, and behavioural manifestation. It is argued that excellence is not incompatible with fragility, and that the excellence of virtue is no less valuable for being in large part a gift rather than an individual achievement.
Keywords: traits of character, temptation, social context, social support, excellence of virtue, moral fragility, moral luck, individual achievement, gift
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