The Virtues in General Ethics

Abstract

In the previous chapter, I highlighted the importance of the moral virtues in the development of a helping nurse-patient relationship. In this chapter, I turn to general ethics and take this discussion further. The discussion of the virtues is confined to general ethics to lay some of the theoretical foundations for the remainder of this book. In this chapter, I focus on the place of the virtues in the history of philosophy, I attempt to define virtues and vices, I consider why the virtues are valuable in human lives and I briefly note an advantage and disadvantage of the virtue-based approach to morality.