The Skillfulness of Virtue provides a new framework for understanding virtue as a skill, based on psychological research on self-regulation and expertise. Matt Stichter lays the foundations of his argument by bringing together theories of self-regulation and skill acquisition, which he then uses as grounds to discuss virtue development as a process of skill acquisition. This account of virtue as skill has important implications for debates about virtue in both virtue ethics and virtue epistemology. Furthermore, it engages seriously with criticisms of virtue theory that arise in moral psychology, as psychological experiments reveal that there are many obstacles to acting and thinking well, even for those with the best of intentions. Stichter draws on self-regulation strategies and examples of deliberate practice in skill acquisition to show how we can overcome some of these obstacles, and become more skillful in our moral and epistemic virtues.

Proposes that virtues are skills that we can work on improving, using psychological research on self-regulation and expertise.

About the Author
Matt Stichter is Associate Professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at Washington State University. He is the author of a number of journal articles and book chapters in ethical theory.


Book Information
ISBN 9781108472371
Author Matt Stichter
Format Hardback
Page Count 206
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 480g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 157mm * 14mm