Virtue Ethics between Spirituality and Materialism—The Virtues and the Philosophy of Religion

Dear Colleagues,

Virtue ethics (VE) has experienced a lively revival in recent decades, and can now be considered the third main ethical approach, together with utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Authors in VE have explored several avenues in which virtues can make a difference in practical life. Even though VE does not rely on any supernatural foundation, nor is it committed to any specific religious outlook, it seems as though its conjunction with spiritual traditions that commend a return to spirituality should be further explored, as opposed to a compromise with contemporary Western materialistic societies that tend to underestimate the importance of inner life and the development of a virtuous character.

From the masterworks of Aristotle, Thomas the Aquinas, Al-Ghazali within Islamic ethics, Confucius, and influential Buddhist writings, we learn the importance of virtues in the development of our character and in the functioning of society. Some of them also exalt virtues as part of their theology. Differently from other ethical concepts such as rights, duties or utility, virtues build a bridge toward our spirituality. The following—non-exhaustive—list provides a number of questions about the connection between virtues and religion.

1. What anthropology can a religious virtuous life, i.e., Christian, suggest?
2. Can virtues provide some proxy for what we miss in contemporary technological and material success, from a religious viewpoint?
3. How can virtue-education within a religious—Christian or other—framework improve human character?
4. What can religious exemplars, such Jesus Christ, Buddha, or Confucius, contribute to virtue education and our ethical life?
5. Can we retrieve a place for humility (vs. pride) in Islamic and Christian religion, such that it can act as a counterweight against contemporary self-centredness?
6. To what extent does religious ethics—Christian, Islamic, Buddhist or else—make room for virtues beside deontological notions?
7. Can the virtues ally with religion in countering the contemporary environmental crisis?

Cursory attempts have been made on the aspects that involve religion and virtues, and important work has been carried out to connect VE with one specific religious tradition (especially Confucianism and Buddhism). Finally, Christian theology has reflected upon the connection between ethical and theological virtues for centuries. However, all of these attempts have been made through the lens of a specific religious outlook, and there is currently no comprehensive literature tackling the issues above in an inter-religious perspective. Our project aims to bring together a selected number of contributions in order to systematically highlight a relationship, which in times of growing materialism and atheism seems more crucial than ever before.

Prof. Dr. Michele Mangini
Prof. Dr. Maria Silvia Vaccarezza
Guest Editors

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• virtue ethics
• spirituality
• materialistic societies
• virtuous character
• religious tradition