Eudaemonism About Virtue and Worthy Agent Right Action

A principle of right action functions within a virtue-oriented ethical theory in the same way that a principle of right action functions within consequentialism and deontology. The theory's principle of right action is filled out by providing an account of the virtuous agent, or substantive accounts of the virtues, in the same way a value axiology does so in a consequentialist theory, and in the same way that an account of the moral law does so in a deontological theory (Hursthouse, 1999; Sandler, 2007). In a theory of environmental ethics, the aim is to provide an account of the norms of character and the norms of action which ought to govern our human relationship with the natural environment. If the two central ethical questions are "What kind of person should I be?" and "What should I do?", a theory of environmental virtue ethics needs to provide a satisfying answer to both, informing us on the qualities of character we ought to cultivate with regard to the environment, and the sorts of behaviour we ought to engage in with regard to the environment (Sandler, 2005: p.2).