Matters of character

Notions of character are central to both normative and applied ethics. Over the past 15 years or so, a growing number of philosophers have advanced empirically-based critiques of virtue ethics, arguing for skepticism about character. I show how standard approaches to virtue ethics can be modified so as to avoid these rather damaging empirical critiques. The most promising responses to character skepticism, however, are not always available to virtue ethical approaches to applied ethics. In particular, I argue that virtue ethical approaches to business ethics are in need of novel responses to character skepticism or radical revision