Aristotelian virtue in the neurophilosophy of Patricia Churchland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2026.e107101Keywords:
Neo-Aristotelianism, Virtue, Self-Control, Neurophilosophy, NeuroethicsAbstract
Proposals regarding the foundations of ethics range from two opposing positions: emotivist and rationalist. An alternative to this contrast can be achieved by reviving Aristotle's theory of virtue, developing it through current scientific advances. This paper examines this possibility by first examining the approaches of the "new wave" of Aristotle and, in a second section, considering the contributions that neuroscience can offer to the study of moral behavior through proposals such as those put forward by Patricia Churchland and her notion of "self-control."
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