Virtue ethics

This article is a critical discussion of William Prior, Virtue and Knowledge: An Introduction to Ancient Greek Ethics. It is suggested that the framework for Prior's work, the relation between virtue, wisdom, and happiness, may obscure the differences between the approaches considered, from Homer to the Stoics and Epicureans. It is further argued that this book, while lucidly written, might only cautiously be recommended as an introduction to virtue ethics owing to flaws in its interpretation, particularly of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.