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Character Luck and Moral Responsibility: the Character of the Ordinary Person in Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics

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Character Luck and Moral Responsibility: the Character of the Ordinary Person in Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2017 Character Luck and Moral Responsibility: The Character of the Ordinary Person in Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics Marcella Linn Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Linn, Marcella, "Character Luck and Moral Responsibility: The Character of the Ordinary Person in Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics" (2017). Dissertations. 2594. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2594 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2017 Marcella Linn LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO CHARACTER LUCK AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE CHARACTER OF THE ORDINARY PERSON IN ARISTOTLE’S RHETORIC AND POLITICS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN PHILOSOPHY BY MARCELLA LINN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 2017 Copyright by Marcella Linn, 2017 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS So many have helped me in the preparation of this dissertation that I wonder how little I have contributed myself. To start, I would like to thank my director, Dr. Thomas Carson whose many, many comments aided enormously in refining my writing and developing the ideas in this dissertation. From the start, he has been encouraging and supportive, reading draft after draft after draft and guiding this project to its completion. My ability to think and write philosophically continues to be refined under his guidance. I am very fortune to have worked with him and to have thought through many of the ideas in this dissertation with him. I would also like to express my gratitude for the significant role Dr. Julie Ward has played in my development as a writer and thinker. My knowledge of Aristotle is indebted to her teaching and her guidance as director of my master’s paper and reader of my dissertation. On several occasions, she played a pivotal role in my interpretation and use of Aristotle, which helped my project evolve in original and interesting ways. The time she has so generously dedicated to me as her student is appreciated beyond measure. I am also so thankful for her advising over the years, which has helped me throughout my progress as a graduate student. I also thank Dr. J.D. Trout, who not only agreed to be a reader for this dissertation, but so generously agreed to read an earlier draft of one of my chapters. His comments on that draft helped me in each of my subsequent revisions by keeping me focused on some of the bigger questions about using Aristotle in relation to contemporary issues. In addition to his help on my dissertation, my work as his teaching and research assistant was crucial for my becoming iii familiar with the vast literature on cognitive biases. It was as his teaching assistant that I was first introduced to the situationist position. Many of the faculty at Loyola have advised me on various issues concerning coursework, teaching, proposing and writing a dissertation, and preparing for the job market. I would like to mention a few who have made a significant contribution in one way or another. I thank Dr. Victoria Wike for all the meetings, conversations, and email exchanges that helped me navigate the various intricacies of graduate student life. I thank Dr. Kristen Irwin for her enthusiastic support. Even though I was not her student, she advised me on several occasions on beginning a dissertation, preparing for the job market, and preparing for my first on-campus interview. I especially thank Dr. Jason Rheins who met with me when I was trying to figure out a topic for my dissertation and advised me on other occasions as well. He generously offered his time for a summer reading group on Aristotle with me and some other students. I also benefitted from the work I did for him as his teaching assistant, which helped me develop a familiarity with Ancient Greek philosophy. During this time, I was beginning work on my dissertation proposal and benefited a great deal from the conversations I had with Dr. Rheins about Aristotle, moral luck, and situationism. I have also benefited from the numerous conversations I have had with my fellow graduate students, be they during seminar, in the grad lounge, or over a post-seminar beer. I will always cherish their friendship and conversation and the community that we formed throughout our time at Loyola. iv I am thankful for the audience at the fall of 2016 History of Philosophy Roundtable meeting. I relied heavily on the comments I received there when revising. I am especially thankful for Robby Duncan and Dr. David Ozar’s comments and interest. I want to say a big thank you to all the department assistants who helped me on numerous occasions on matters small and large. Thank you: Holly, Bryn, Molly, Lauren, Lucas, and Miguel. I was also very lucky to have gotten the Pre-Doctoral Teaching Scholars Fellowship (2015-2016) and the Arthur J. Schmitt Dissertation Fellowship (2016-2017). Without this funding, I would not have been able to complete half the work I did over the last two years. I would like to express a special thank you to Dr. Gregory Dobrov for teaching me Greek and for being a wonderful and dedicated professor. Though his time on earth was too short, his work will outlast all of us. I can hardly read a word of Greek without recalling one of his animated lectures and without wishing I could hear just one more. All the contributions from the faculty, staff, and graduate students at Loyola would have been for nothing had I not had the support of my family. I’d like to thank my parents for an upbringing that made all the difference. I especially must thank my sister, Maria, who has been a second mother to my kids and a lifelong friend to me. I do not know that anyone has a sister as selfless as she. For over a decade, she has arranged her work schedule semester after semester in order to accommodate my childcare needs and continues to spend every day off helping me juggle work and childcare. She also generously offered her time to format this dissertation – a time consuming and frustrating process, especially given my struggles with technology. I cannot thank her enough for what she has done for my family, and I would be lucky to have the opportunity to return her generosity. v Lastly, I thank my husband, Joe, and our kids. Those kids have brought such joy and love to my life and have motivated me beyond measure. Throughout every difficulty, Joe has been an unending source of love and support. His kindness and thoughtfulness have sustained me each time I have felt depleted. And, his conversation and wisdom have inspired me. My life is full because of him, and every word I have written is for him. vi To Joe TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii ABSTRACT x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO: LUCK, MORAL LUCK, AND CHARACTER LUCK 14 I. A General Account of Luck 15 II. Transition from a General Account of Luck to Moral Luck 23 III. Moral Luck and Character Luck 36 IV. Character Luck and Responsibility 44 1. Sher on Blame for Traits 48 2. Moody-Adams on Acting Out of Character 50 3. Trianosky on Active Temperaments 53 4. Card on Forward-Looking Responsibility for Character 57 V. The Need for an Account of Ordinary Character and Responsibility 58 CHAPTER THREE: CHARACTER, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, AND RESPONSIBILITY IN ARISTOTLE’S NICOMACHEAN ETHICS 60 I. Habituation in EN II.1-3 63 II. EN III.1-5’s Conditions for Responsibility 74 III. Conclusion 82 CHAPTER FOUR: GENETIC INHERITANCES AND NATURAL TEMPERAMENTS: CHARACTER, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, AND RESPONSIBILITY IN ARISTOTLE’S RHETORIC 85 I. Responsibility in the EN and Ideal Candidates for Virtue 86 II. The Rhetoric on Temperament and Responsibility 88 1. Moral and Natural Development 90 2. Responsibility in the Rhetoric 93 III. Another Model of Responsibility 110 1. Natural Virtue and Habituated States 111 2. The Genus of the Temperaments of the Ordinary Citizen 114 3. Responsibility for a Temperament 116 IV. Conclusion 120 CHAPTER FIVE: SOCIAL INHERITANCES: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND MORAL UNDERSTANDING IN ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS AND RHETORIC 122 I. Ethics, Politics, and the Non-Ideal in Aristotle 123 II. Aristotle’s Account of Moral Awareness in the Politics 127 1. The Roles of Law and Family in Upbringing and Moral Awareness 127 2. Moral Education and Moral Awareness 133 viii III. Character Development and Maintenance and One’s Circumstances 138 1. Rhetoric II.15-17 and Politics IV.11 on the Importance of Circumstances for Development and Moral Awareness 139 IV. Responsibility and One’s Upbringing 148 V. Conclusion 152 CHAPTER SIX: ARISTOTLE AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE EMPIRICAL ADEQUACY OF CHARACTER 156 I. The Studies and Their Interpretations 160 1. Key Concepts 166 2. Doris and Local Traits 170 3. Miller and Global Traits 172 4. Assessing Miller and Doris 176 II. Aristotle and Situationism 178 1. Aristotle on Actual Virtue 179 2. Aristotle on Ordinary Virtues 187 3. Fragmented Character and Behavioral Inconsistencies 191 III. Ordinary Character as a Temperament: An Example 193 IV. Further Implications for Moral Education 201 V.
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