University of Dayton eCommons Religious Studies Faculty Publications Department of Religious Studies 2011 Virtue Ethics Nikki Coffey Tousley University of Dayton Brad Kallenberg University of Dayton,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Practical Theology Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons eCommons Citation Tousley, Nikki Coffey nda Kallenberg, Brad, "Virtue Ethics" (2011). Religious Studies Faculty Publications. Paper 59. http://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub/59 This Encyclopedia Entry is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Religious Studies at eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of eCommons. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. The document here is the authors’ accepted manuscript for the following publication: Tousley, Nikki Coffey and Kallenberg, Brad J. “Virtue Ethics.” In Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, edited by Joel Green, Jacqueline Lapsley, Rebekah Miles and Allen Verhey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011. Virtue Ethics Brad J. Kallenberg If a burglar is breaking into the house, it is too late to begin lifting weights. Underneath the humor, there is a truism: You are always becoming the person you are. This truism is the basis for a model of ethics.1 1. What is Virtue Ethics? It is sometimes helpful to think about moral situations as having three logical moments: Agent(s) perform Action(s) that result in Outcome(s). One brand of ethics treats outcomes as the most important consideration in determining right and wrong (e.g., utilitarianism).