Questions of Character

This collection features 26 new essays on character from first-rate scholars in philosophy, psychology, economics, and law. The essays are elegantly written and combine forceful argumentation with original ideas on a wide range of questions, such as: "Is Aristotle's theory of character a moral theory?,""Are character traits in tension with personal autonomy?," "How do traits differ from mental disorders?," "What is the role of gossip in character attribution?," and "Can businessmen be virtuous?"The chapters are organized thematically into 5 sections, each prefaced by its own special introduction. In the introductions, the editor brings out often unexpected connections among different lines of argument pursued by the authors and raises important questions for further discussion. The collection as a whole offers students of character a unique opportunity to engage with some of the best contemporary work on the topic.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Preface Part I: Character in Ethics Introduction to Part I 1. Morality and Aristotelian Character Excellence David Wolfsdorf 2. Aristotle on the Person-Situation Debate: From Natural Character to Moral Virtue Mariska Leunissen 3. Character and Blame in Hume and Beyond Antti Kauppinen 4. Kant on Cultivating a Good and Stable Will Adam Cureton 5. Character and Consequences Ben Bradley 6. How One Becomes What One Is: The Case for a Nietzschean Conception of Character Development Mark Alfano Part II: Character in Moral Psychology Introduction to Part II 7. Moral Psychology's Drinking Problem Nomy Arpaly 8. Autonomy, Character, and Self-Understanding Paul Katsafanas 9. Virtue and Cognition Alison Hills 10. Virtue, Desire, and Silencing Reasons Neil Sinhababu 11. Character in Action Alfred Mele 12. Two Senses of "Why": Traits and Reasons in the Explanation of Action Iskra Fileva Part III: Character in Psychology and X-Phi Introduction to Part III 13. Promises and Consistency Rachel Cohon and Jason D'Cruz 14. Do Broad Character Traits Exist? Repeated Assessments of Individuals, Not Group Summaries from Classic Experiments, Provide the Relevant Evidence William Fleeson and Michael Furr 15. A New Approach to Character Traits in Light of Psychology Christian Miller 16. Scrupulous Characters and Mental Illness Jesse Summers and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong 17. The Psychology of Character, Reputation, and Gossip Ted Hayes, Robert Hogan, and Nick Emler 18. Character and Emotional Phenomenology: Psychotherapeutic and Ethical Implications Robert Stolorow Part IV: Character and Society Introduction to Part IV 19. Character and History Daniel Little 20. The "Character" of Profit and Loss: The Entrepreneurial Virtues Michael Munger and Juan Pablo Couyoumdjian 21. Justice and the Intellectual Virtues Kyron Huigens Part V: Character in Art Introduction to Part V 22. Fictional Characters as Social Metaphors Noël Carroll 23. Character, Social Psychology, and the Cognitive Value of Literature Robert Stecker 24. Fiction in the Brain Gonzalo Munevar 25. Character and Character Swapping in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte Stephen Davies 26. A Miscast of Character: Actors, Characters, and Character Actors Christy Mag Uidhir Endnotes Index

About the Author :
Iskra Fileva is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has published articles and invited book chapters on issues in moral psychology, free will, and aesthetics, and is also the author of a prize-winning essay on character.

Review :
"Fileva's collection, although written by philosophers, sees more clearly than any volume I know of that questions of character must be addressed from a wide variety of perspectives and expertise. Because of that it is a vital guide for those of us interested in such matters and a superb model of inclusive philosophical thinking." -- Journal of Moral Philosophy "In this 26 paper volume, Iskra Fileva collects the perhaps most comprehensive research collection on character seen to date. All articles are written specifically for the volume thereby securing a high level of relevance and cohesion between parts. ... It is a broad, but also unified, work (thanks to Fileva's introductions). The volume is, therefore, essential for scholars interested in character but it is also highly suitable for students. All the papers are written in a manner that is accessible for non-experts, and both the content and the structure make this volume suited for graduate classes on philosophy or social psychology. ... Fileva has succeeded in collecting some of the sharpest papers on character and it greatly represents the present state of research."--Emil Hallgren Christiansen, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice