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Full Idea
Empirical psychologists have suggested that our practice of trait ascription is systematically prone to error. Some philosophers have concluded that the whole business of trait ascription, and of virtue ethics, should be abandoned.
Gist of Idea
Psychologists suggest we are muddled about traits, and maybe they should be abandoned
Source
Peter Goldie (The Emotions [2000], 6 'Traits')
Book Ref
Goldie,Peter: 'The Emotions' [OUP 2002], p.160
A Reaction
[He cites Ross and Nisbet, and Gilbert Harman as a sceptic] I suspect the problem is that character traits are not precise enough for scientific assessment. How else are we going to describe a person? What else can we say at funerals?