Abstract
Although virtue ethics predates the beginnings of Christianity, it is largely thanks to the Christian, and especially the Catholic, tradition that virtue ethics has survived and can be revived more generally today. After briefly indicating some of the reasons for this, the metaphysical presuppositions for virtue ethics in the Catholic tradition are examined, using the writings of Thomas Aquinas as the main source because of his wide influence over this tradition as a whole. The nature of virtue is then discussed, including both the classic distinction between the four cardinal virtues and the unity of the virtues in virtuous action. Finally, the relevance of Catholic virtue ethics for business and business ethics is discussed. Its main contribution lies in the integrated philosophy of business that it can offer, providing basic, framework answers to questions like “what is business for?” which, at the same time, allow a great degree of freedom when applying them in practice.
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Alford, H. (2017). Virtue Ethics in the Catholic Tradition. In: Sison, A., Beabout, G., Ferrero, I. (eds) Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. International Handbooks in Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_10
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