Christian B. Miller, "Moral Character: An Empirical Theory."

  • Daniel Putman University of Wisconsin Colleges

Abstract

Christian Miller's book makes extensive use of the data on human behavior and motivation from psychological studies in the last 50-60 years and applies that information to the analysis of character. The book begins with helping behavior and the analysis is then generalized to other character traits. Miller argues that an analysis of human character as having Mixed Character Traits is superior to the analysis of character using the traditional virtues. The review highlights the great value of combining the research into one place for the purposes of ethics and Miller's initial analysis of the data on helping. But the review questions the usefulness of Mixed Character Traits as a descriptor of human character and its value as a heuristic device in ethics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Daniel Putman, University of Wisconsin Colleges
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy
Published
2015-08-31
How to Cite
Putman, D. “Christian B. Miller, "Moral Character: An Empirical Theory."”. Philosophy in Review, Vol. 35, no. 4, Aug. 2015, pp. 217-9, https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/13683.
Section
Book Reviews