On the Reliability of Moral and Intellectual Virtues

My concern here is with what we might call the logic of a virtue, that is, with the essential or defining features of a virtue. Therefore in contrast with, say, Aristotle’s inquiry into virtue, I am not necessarily concerned with qualities that virtuous people as we known them tend to possess, but rather with qualities that any virtuous person must possess. Specifically, I am concerned with whether “reliability” – or the reliable achievement of the ends or goals proper to a virtue – is an essential or defining feature of a virtue.