VIRTUE ETHICS – ITS PLACE IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY AND IN UKRAINIAN REALITIES

Abstract

Contemporary academic discourse in moral philosophy is structured almost exclusively around the triad of "deontology – consequentialism – virtue ethics." However, this "standard narrative" is often perceived as a constant, lacking proper reflection regarding the historical and conceptual reasons for its emergence. This article is dedicated to a critical analysis of the epistemological premises that led to the dominance of these three models, and to explaining the phenomenon of the "renaissance" of virtue ethics in the second half of the 20th century.

The author proposes a reconstruction of the historical-philosophical process of the fragmentation of ethical knowledge that determined the current configuration of normative theories, drawing upon the seminal texts of E. Anscombe, A. MacIntyre, and other leading theorists of contemporary virtue ethics.

The article analyzes the historical prerequisites for the formation of the contemporary ethical landscape. It demonstrates that the dominance of deontology and consequentialism resulted from the Enlightenment's attempt to preserve the normativity of morality following the abandonment of Aristotelian teleology and the theological concept of "Divine Law." The premise that deontology in a secular context has transformed into a "law without a legislator" (E. Anscombe) explains the crisis of international legal mechanisms, which have proven incapable of stopping the aggression against Ukraine due to the lack of real enforcement power. Simultaneously, consequentialism (utilitarianism), which is oriented towards the calculation of consequences, demonstrates its ethical inadequacy in the context of war, as it legitimizes the logic of realpolitik and compromises with evil for the sake of avoiding escalation, thereby contradicting the existential choice of Ukrainian society. It is argued that virtue ethics was "added" to the ethical discourse not merely as an alternative, but as a necessary reconstruction of the lost teleological perspective within philosophical anthropology. Using the example of the Ukrainian resistance, it is demonstrated that in conditions of "catastrophe" (A. MacIntyre's term), when external institutional frameworks collapse, the character of the moral agent becomes the sole source of normativity. The phenomena of volunteerism, civic resilience, and military valor are interpreted as manifestations of phronesis (practical wisdom) and the restoration of the narrative unity of the community's life.

The author concludes that the contemporary ethical triad reflects the stages of the disintegration of the classical tradition. The Ukrainian war experience serves as a verifier of these theories, attesting that in limit situations, the aretaic paradigm proves to be the most viable; it restores agency to the individual and the community, replacing abstract rules with a living ethos of dignity and struggle.