Neither Heroes nor Saints

Ordinary Virtue, Extraordinary Virtue, and Self-Cultivation

Rebecca Stangl

Constructs and defends Neo-Aristotelian accounts of supererogation and suberogation, arguing such accounts are fully consistent with traditional Aristotelian claims
Shows that self-improvement itself can be morally excellent, and the disposition to seek and engage in it, where appropriate, can itself be a virtue
Draws from a wider range of sources than is common in analytic moral philosophy, including literature, biographical work on moral saints and heroes, and work form developmental psychology

Neither Heroes nor Saints

Ordinary Virtue, Extraordinary Virtue, and Self-Cultivation

Rebecca Stangl

Description

Most of us are far from perfect in virtue. But even those who come far closer to perfect virtue than most of us—people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., or Gandhi—nonetheless fall short of possessing it: not even moral saints and heroes are perfectly virtuous. Faced with this fact, moral philosophers can respond in two different ways: they might insist that the only real virtue is perfect virtue, and the only right actions are perfectly virtuous ones. Any failure to meet the exacting standards of perfect virtue will amount to vice, and any less than perfectly virtuous actions will be wrong. Or, if they reject such a rigorist picture, they can instead affirm that there are actions that are truly good and right even if they fall short of perfection.

In this book, philosopher Rebecca Stangl urges the attractions of a virtue ethics committed to the second option, and in doing so, pushes forward two major innovations. First, she constructs and defends Neo-Aristotelian accounts of supererogation and suberogation, arguing such accounts are fully consistent with such traditional Aristotelian claims as the doctrine of the mean, the necessity of virtue, and the role of the phronimos in our moral epistemology. And further, far from encouraging a kind of complacency, she shows the recognition that there can be genuine goodness short of perfection is precisely what opens up theoretical space for appreciating the goodness of striving towards ideal virtue. The second major innovation of the book is its argument that self-improvement itself can be morally excellent, and the disposition to seek and engage in it, where appropriate, is itself virtuous. She terms this a virtue of self-cultivation, and the book defends and develops a rigorous account of its nature and value.

Neither Heroes nor Saints

Ordinary Virtue, Extraordinary Virtue, and Self-Cultivation

Rebecca Stangl

Introduction
Chapter 1: Neo-Aristotelian Supererogation
Chapter 2: Neo-Aristotelian Suberogation
Chapter 3: Is Neo-Aristotelian Supererogation Even Possible?
Chapter 4: On the Very Idea of a Virtue of Self-Cultivation
Chapter 5: The Virtue of Self-Cultivation
Chapter 6: Self-Cultivation and Self-Absorption
Conclusion

Neither Heroes nor Saints

Ordinary Virtue, Extraordinary Virtue, and Self-Cultivation

Rebecca Stangl

Author Information

Rebecca Stangl, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The University of Virginia

Rebecca Stangl is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Virginia. She specializes in contemporary virtue ethics, and her recent work has appeared in such leading journals as Ethics, Philosophical Quarterly, and The Hastings Center Report, as well as several edited collections from Oxford University Press.

Neither Heroes nor Saints

Ordinary Virtue, Extraordinary Virtue, and Self-Cultivation

Rebecca Stangl

Reviews and Awards

"Rebecca Stangl's contribution to virtue theory boldly changes the contours of the contemporary debate. In a highly original move, she argues that neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics can give an attractive account of supererogation. This will give rise to fertile debate, since virtue ethics is standardly taken to reject the ethical structure within which supererogation arises. This rigorously argued book takes the debate into further territory and opens up new lines of debate, for which all ethical philosophers will be grateful." - Julia E. Annas, The University of Arizona

"Rebecca Stangl breaks new ground in offering a virtue ethical account of supererogation. The distinction between ordinary and extraordinary virtue allows for the possibility of an action being right without being as virtuous as possible. Based on a conception of right and wrong action in terms of the virtue and vice concepts, Stangl offers an original and highly plausible approach to a perennial difficult issue in ethical theory: the analysis of both supererogation and suberogation." - Christine Swanton, University of Auckland

"This book makes a strong case for the existence of a novel virtue Stangl calls 'self-cultivation.' Unlike the conception of virtue in traditional Aristotelian virtue ethics, this virtue is realistic for the aspirations of human beings, who even in the best cases are never perfect. Written in an engaging style and addressing a timely topic, Stangl presents a framework that explains why the self-improvement ordinary people can be classified as virtuous as well as the acts of the heroic and saintly." - Linda Zagzebski, University of Oklahoma