Varieties of virtue ethics: Introduction

There is growing contemporary appreciation of the crucial importance of moral virtues and qualities of character for flourishing personal lives, professional conduct and general public good. Much of this latter-day recognition has drawn inspiration from the twentieth-century revival of a conception of virtue as good character, derived mainly from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Contemporary attention to the implications of virtue and character for personal, professional and public life has been the prime concern of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, established in the University of Birmingham in 2012. From a theoretical viewpoint, the Jubilee Centre has quickly established itself as a site of internationally cutting-edge philosophical and social scientific research into the nature of moral character and virtue in a large output of books and articles in leading academic journals. In this regard, it has also formed close working relationships and fertile associations with foremost worldwide scholars in these academic fields via conferences and visits of distinguished scholars to the Centre. However, the Centre has been no less concerned with the actual promotion of moral virtue and character in a variety of educational settings and contexts of public and professional agency and has been a leading informant of policy and legislation in such contexts via an extensive range of more practical and developmental projects.