Questions of Character

This collection features 26 new essays on character from first-rate scholars in philosophy, psychology, economics, and law. The essays are elegantly written and combine forceful argumentation with original ideas on a wide range of questions, such as:"Is Aristotle's theory of character a moral theory?," "Are character traits in tension with personal autonomy", "How do traits differ from mental disorders?," "What is the role of gossip in character attribution?," and "Can businessmen be virtuous?" The chapters are organized thematically into 5 sections, each prefaced by its own special introduction. In the introductions, the editor brings out often unexpected connections among different lines of argument pursued by the authors and raises important questions for further discussion. The collection as a whole offers students of character a unique opportunity to engage with some of the best contemporary work on the topic.

This collection features 26 new essays on character from first-rate scholars in philosophy, psychology, economics, and law. The essays are elegantly written and combine forceful argumentation with original ideas on a wide range of questions, such as:"e;Is Aristotle's theory of character a moral theory?,"e; "e;Are character traits in tension with personal autonomy"e;, "e;How do traits differ from mental disorders?,"e; "e;What is the role of gossip in character attribution?,"e; and "e;Can businessmen be virtuous?"e; The chapters are organized thematically into 5 sections, each prefaced by its own special introduction. In the introductions, the editor brings out often unexpected connections among different lines of argument pursued by the authors and raises important questions for further discussion. The collection as a whole offers students of character a unique opportunity to engage with some of the best contemporary work on the topic.

AcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsPrefacePart I: Character in EthicsIntroduction to Part I1. Morality and Aristotelian Character Excellence David Wolfsdorf2. Aristotle on the Person-Situation Debate: From Natural Character to Moral Virtue Mariska Leunissen3. Character and Blame in Hume and Beyond Antti Kauppinen4. Kant on Cultivating a Good and Stable Will Adam Cureton5. Character and Consequences Ben Bradley6. How One Becomes What One Is: The Case for a Nietzschean Conception of Character Development Mark AlfanoPart II: Character in Moral PsychologyIntroduction to Part II7. Moral Psychology's Drinking Problem Nomy Arpaly8. Autonomy, Character, and Self-Understanding Paul Katsafanas9. Virtue and Cognition Alison Hills10. Virtue, Desire, and Silencing Reasons Neil Sinhababu11. Character in Action Alfred Mele12. Two Senses of "Why": Traits and Reasons in the Explanation of Action Iskra FilevaPart III: Character in Psychology and X-PhiIntroduction to Part III13. Promises and Consistency Rachel Cohon and Jason D'Cruz14. Do Broad Character Traits Exist? Repeated Assessments of Individuals, Not Group Summaries from Classic Experiments, Provide the Relevant Evidence William Fleeson and Michael Furr15. A New Approach to Character Traits in Light of Psychology Christian Miller16. Scrupulous Characters and Mental Illness Jesse Summers and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong17. The Psychology of Character, Reputation, and Gossip Ted Hayes, Robert Hogan, and Nick Emler18. Character and Emotional Phenomenology: Psychotherapeutic and Ethical Implications Robert StolorowPart IV: Character and SocietyIntroduction to Part IV19. Character and History Daniel Little20. The "Character" of Profit and Loss: The Entrepreneurial Virtues Michael Munger and Juan Pablo Couyoumdjian21. Justice and the Intellectual Virtues Kyron HuigensPart V: Character in ArtIntroduction to Part V22. Fictional Characters as Social Metaphors Noël Carroll23. Character, Social Psychology, and the Cognitive Value of Literature Robert Stecker24. Fiction in the Brain Gonzalo Munevar25. Character and Character Swapping in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte Stephen Davies26. A Miscast of Character: Actors, Characters, and Character Actors Christy Mag UidhirEndnotesIndex