Search Legal Terms and Definitions. preliminary hearing. n. in criminal law, a hearing to determine if a person charged with a felony (a serious crime punishable by a term in the state prison) should be tried for the crime charged, based on whether there is some substantial evidence that he/she committed the crime.
On Hume 's view, the judgments and recommendations of traditional morality arise not from reason, but from a moral sense. As a straightforward matter of fact (discoverable by experience), virtue is always accompanied by a feeling of pleasure, and vice by a feeling of pain.
Virtue ethics is person rather than action based: it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person carrying out an action, rather than at ethical duties and rules, or the consequences of particular actions. An action is only right if it is an action that a virtuous person would carry out in the same circumstances. 2  A virtuous person is a person who acts virtuously. 3  A person acts virtuously if they possess and live the virtues. 4  A virtue is a moral characteristic that a person needs to live well.