[German Version]

Systematic treatment of virtue (Gk ἀρετή/aretḗ; Lat. virtus) goes back to Plato and Aristotle, who built on Socrates (Krämer); it was further advanced by the Stoics. It is based on the conviction that the good life consists in focusing on happiness through attainment of a highest good. Therefore the classical versions of virtue ethics always combined theoretical and practical elements. According to Plato, insight into the categorial uniqueness of the idea of the good vis-à-vis all possible goods, which results from knowledge of what truly has being, gro…