Virtue Ethics in an Anthropological Account A Review of The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom

Goudarzi, Parisa; Shabani, Mohsen

doi:10.30465/crtls.2020.5575

Virtue Ethics in an Anthropological Account A Review of The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom

Document Type : Research

Authors

Parisa Goudarzi ¹

Mohsen Shabani ²

¹ Ph.D. in Islamic Mysticism, Member of Department of Anthropology, the Iranian Council for Reviewing Books and Texts on Human Sciences, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies

² PhD Student of Ethics, Executive Director of Department of Anthropology, the Iranian Council for Reviewing Books and Texts on Human Sciences, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies

https://doi.org/10.30465/crtls.2020.5575

Abstract

Moral anthropology is a newfound field in interdisciplinary studies in moral philosophy and anthropology. ‘The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom’ by James Laidlaw is one of the most effective books ever in this area. The author tries to approximate the boundaries of anthropology and moral philosophy. He uses notions and theories from both fields, and it makes the book to be more than a mere anthropological study. For instance, he draws the notions of virtue and freedom from moral philosophy and anthropology, respectively. As a result, the book could be regarded as a successful interdisciplinary study, which benefits from both disciplines and at the same time contributed to them methodologically. To do so, he uses philosophical resources to support anthropological researches. Laidlaw also wants to facilitate new resources in the field of moral anthropology and puts some figures like Foucault, MacIntyre, and Williams together to improve the discussion of moral anthropology.

Keywords

Moral Anthropology

James Laidlaw

Virtue

Freedom

Responsibility

Subjects

Anthropology

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