Abstract

Martha Nussbaum has argued in favor of dividing the terrain of contemporary virtue ethics between an Aristotelian emphasis on practical reason and a Humean focus on moral sentiments. I first to point to some difficulties with the contemporary Aristotelian view, particular with respect to moral inclusiveness. I go on to show that the Humean cultural conception of human nature ties together the justification of a sentiment-based morality with the possibility of a reflective and critical stance towards the sentiment-based moralities of particular communities. Hume's emphasis on the importance of humanity and the virtues of good moral evaluation dovetails nicely with recent work in feminist ethics.