How Great a Good Is Virtue?

This chapter raises the question of the comparative value of virtue compared to other perfectionist goods, such as pleasure or knowledge. A perfectionist claim on morals holds that certain states of humans are objectively good, independent of their connection to pleasures or desires. Under this viewpoint, moral virtue is often considered as the greatest intrinsic good. However, upon a recursive account of the intrinsic values of moral virtue and moral vice, it holds that their intrinsic goodness or evil—while in certain instances greater than the other perfectionist goods—will always have less value than the specific good or evil they were intentionally connected to. This comparative view is of course, not without its flaws, but it is currently the most plausible argument on the subject.