Question

what is William Frankena’s views on virtue-based ethical systems and the relationship he sees between character traits and moral principles

Answer 1

William Frankena views that Virtue based ethical system should be based on some moral principles, as the intention of the agent that is the trait or virtue of the agent should guided or based on some moral principle. Moral ideals are motivation for virtues or moral traits. As virtue of being good could be based or be guided by the principle to bring maximum pleasure to maximum people (utilitarianism) or is out of duty (deontology). Thus, the character traits and moral principles are not opposite to each other, but are complementary to each other and go hand in hand with each other.