Collective Virtue

In this paper, we aim to advance the nascent discussion of collective virtue in three ways. First, in section 1, we offer two new arguments for the existence of collective virtues. Second, in section 2, we offer a new account of the nature of collective virtues in general which has significant advantages over the leading rival account of the nature of collective virtues. Third, in section 3, we contribute to the project of classifying collective virtues by distinguishing between collective virtues which have individual virtue analogues from those that do not, and by offering examples of some of the distinctively collective virtues which have no individual analogues. We argue that distinctively collective virtues provide a profitable place of focus for future work on collective virtue, since analyses of these virtues cannot be derived in a straightforward manner from analyses of their individual virtue analogues.