Doris puts a lot of faith in the theory that environmental factors play a major role in people’s actions. He argues that Aristotle put too much responsibility on people’s character. According to Aristotle, a person behaves virtuously because he is a virtuous person. In the same way, a vicious person is so because he behaves viciously. This theory is suggesting that people’s actions are based on their personalities, and vice versa. While Doris agrees that a person’s disposition might encourage him to behave honorably, if the situation does not provide gain (a found coin in the coin return of a payphone), the likelihood of the person doing this honorable deed (picking up spilt papers for a stranger) is reduced, whether the person is self-interested or particularly helpful by nature.




“…trait attribution is often surprisingly inefficacious in predicting behavior in particular novel situations, because differing behavioral outcomes often seem a function of situational variation more than individual disposition. To put things crudely, people typically lack character.” Doris pg 4

“…behavioral variation among individuals often owes more to distinct circumstances than distinct personalities; the difference between the person who behaves honestly and the one who fails to do so, for example, may be more a function of situation than character. Moreover, behavior may vary quite radically when compared with that expected on the postulation of a given trait. We have little assurance that a person to whom we attributed a trait will consistently behave in a trait-relevant fashion across a run of trait-relevant situations with variable pressures to such behavior; the putatively "honest" person may very well not consistently display honest behavior across a diversity of situations where honesty is appropriate.” Doris pg 6

“So things done are called just and moderate whenever they are such that the just person or the moderate person would do them; whereas a person is not just and moderate because he does these things, but also because he does them in the way in which just and moderate people do them. So it is appropriate to say that the just person comes about from doing what is just, and the moderate person form doing what is moderate…” Aristotle pg 115 1105b5

“Nevertheless, even in these circumstances the quality of fineness shines through, when someone bears repeated and great misfortunes calmly, not because he is insensitive to them but because he is a person of nobility and greatness of soul. If one’s activities are what determines the quality of one’s life, as we have said, no one who is blessed will become miserable; for he will never do what is hateful and vile.” Aristotle pg 107 1100b30