Although individual parents face different issues, Sonya Charles believes most parents want their children to be good people who are happy in their adult lives. Parents and Virtues: An Analysis of Moral Development and Parental Virtue starts from the question of how parents can raise their child to be a moral and flourishing person. At first glance, readers might think this question is better left to psychologists rather than philosophers. The author proposes that Aristotle's ethical theory (known as virtue theory) has much to say on this issue. Aristotle asks how we become moral people and how that relates to leading a good life. In other words, his motivating questions are very similar to the goals parents have for their children. The first part of this book details what the basic components of Aristotle's theory can tell us about the project of parenting. In the second part, the focus shifts to consider some issues that present potential moral dilemmas for parents and discuss whether there are specific virtues we may want to use to guide parental actions. Parents and Virtues will be of particular value to scholars and students who work on the ethics of parenthood, virtue theory, and bioethics.

Even though individual parents face different issues, I believe most parents want their children to be good people who are happy in their adult lives. As such a central motivating question of this book is how can parents raise a child to be a moral and flourishing person. At first glance, we might think this question is better left to psychologists rather than philosophers. I propose that Aristotle's ethical theory (known as virtue theory) has much to say on this issue. Aristotle asks how do we become a moral person and how does that relate to leading a good life. In other words, his motivating questions are very similar to the goals parents have for their children. In the first part of this book, I consider what the basic components of Aristotle's theory can tell us about the project of parenting. In the second part, I shift my focus to consider some issues that present potential moral dilemmas for parents and whether there are specific parental virtues we may want to use to guide parental actions.