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    Virtue ethics derives action-guidance from character trai... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→A virtue ethical theory can be both extensionally and explanatorily adequate

    Virtue ethics derives action-guidance from character traits, but character traits are situationally variable, as Harman and Doris demonstrate empirically.

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    Reasons For

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    • 1.Harman and Doris's experiments show helping behavior drops dramatically based on minor contextual cues, not stable character traits.
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    • 2.If virtue ethics prescribes cultivating honesty but situations determine honesty, the guidance becomes unreliable and practically hollow.
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    • 3.Situational psychology demonstrates traits like compassion vary more by environment than by individual disposition across populations.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Virtue ethics doesn't claim traits are invariant; it claims virtuous agents develop stable *dispositions to respond appropriately to context*.
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    • 2.Empirical variability in behavior doesn't establish that character traits don't exist—it shows virtue is contextually intelligent, not rigid.
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    • 3.The experiments conflate single acts with character; one situational failure doesn't prove someone lacks the stable trait of practical wisdom.
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    Related

    A virtue ethical theory can be both extensionally and explanatorily adequateEmpirical variability in behavior doesn't establish that character traits don't ...Harman and Doris's experiments show helping behavior drops dramatically based on...If virtue ethics prescribes cultivating honesty but situations determine honesty...
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    Situational psychology demonstrates traits like compassion vary more by environm...The experiments conflate single acts with character; one situational failure doe...Virtue ethics doesn't claim traits are invariant; it claims virtuous agents deve...

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