Psychologists Propose a Six-Virtue Scheme (Post #3 of 4)

October 2, 2009

A google search immediately brings up Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman’s Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (2004). This book establishes six categories of virtues: (1) Wisdom and Knowledge, (2) Courage, (3) Humanity, (4) Justice, (5) Temperance, (6) and Transcendence. Within each category the authors list character strengths. Their approach embraces what they call “positive psychology.”

I did not read beyond the preface and the “Background” section because my head was spinning with “psychologese.” The authors are writing for “psychological researchers and practitioners” (p. 7).

Still, these first two parts of the book are valuable for their discussion of the differences between philosophical and psychological approaches to the study of virtue. The authors recognize the benefits of the philosophical approach, but they place their work within the psychological tradition as they define “virtue” and “character strength:”

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