We are not conscripts in the army of virtue, but volunteers.
In their times
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Philippa Foot, 1920–2010, was a British moral philosopher and one of the major figures in twentieth-century analytic ethics. She studied and taught at Somerville College, Oxford, and alongside Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, and Mary Midgley was among those who revived virtue ethics in contemporary English-language philosophy.
Areas of Thought
Foot is known for her work in moral philosophy, especially virtue ethics, moral realism, the critique of utilitarianism, and the critique of moral non-cognitivism. Influenced by Aristotle, she sought to show that moral concepts such as goodness, virtue, and vice can be understood in relation to human life and human flourishing. The famous thought experiment known as the "trolley problem" was also first formulated in her writings.
