I raise four issues that militate against adopting virtue ethics as a guiding concept: (a) In the resolution of most ethics cases, virtue ethics is irrelevant; (b) there is substantial redundancy between virtue and principle ethics; (c) acting and deciding are unavoidable tasks for which principle ethics is particularly suitable; and (d) the emphasis on character and community wisdom increases the possibility of idiosyncratic and unsound decision making.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychological Association Ethics Committee . (1994). Report of the Ethics Committee, 1993. American Psychologist, 49, 659-666.
2.
Beauchamp, T. L. , & Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of biomedical ethics (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
3.
Bersoff, D. N. (1992). Autonomy for vulnerable populations: The Supreme Court's reckless disregard for self-determination and social science. Villanova Law Review, 37, 1569-1605.
4.
Bersoff, D. N. (1994). Explicit ambiguity: The 1992 ethics code as an oxymoron. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 25, 382-387.
5.
Bersoff, D. N. (1995). Ethical conflicts in psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
6.
Bersoff, D. N. , & Koeppl, P. M. (1993). The relation between ethical codes and moral principles. Ethics & Behavior, 3(314), 345-357.
7.
Dressler, J. (1987). Understanding criminal law. New York: Matthew Bender.
8.
Hogarth, R. (1987). Judgment and choice: The psychology of decision (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
9.
Jordan, A. , & Meara, N. (1990). Ethics and the professional practice of psychologists: The role of virtues and principles. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 21, 107-114.
10.
Lakin, M. (1994). Morality in group and family therapies: Multiperson therapies and the 1992 ethics code. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 25, 344-348.
11.
Ross, W. D. (1930). The right and the good. Oxford, England, Clarendon.
12.
Vasquez, M. (1994). Implications of the 1992 ethics code for the practice of individual psychotherapy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 25, 321-328.
