ABSTRACT
Iris Murdoch does not offer an explicit definition of virtue, and there are significant differences between her views and those of standard Aristotelian virtue ethicists. There is no reason, however, to think that the standard Aristotelian view represents the only legitimate form of virtue ethics. In this chapter, I sketch the basics of Iris Murdoch’s peculiar account of virtue, and I argue that there are at least three routes to vindicate it as a genuine virtue-ethical approach: the Buddhist, the Kantian and the Socratic-Aristotelian. I explore each of these routes, and I argue that the virtue-ethical field would benefit a great deal from the kind of pluralistic account of virtue that Murdoch offers.
