character the comprehensive set of ethical and intellectual dispositions of a person. Intellectual virtues – like carefulness in the evaluation of evidence – promote, for one, the practice of seeking truth. Moral or ethical virtues – including traits like courage and generosity – dispose persons not only to choices and actions but also to attitudes and emotions. Such dispositions are generally considered relatively stable and responsive to reasons. Appraisal of character transcends direct evaluation of particular actions in favor of examination of some set of virtues or the admirable human life as a whole. On some views this admirable life grounds the goodness of particular actions. This suggests seeking guidance from role models, and their practices, rather than relying exclusively on rules. Role models will, at times, simply perceive the salient features of a situation and act accordingly. Being guided by role models requires some recognition of just who should be a role model. One may act out of character, since dispositions do not automatically produce particular actions in specific cases. One may also have a conflicted character if the virtues one’s character comprises contain internal tensions (between, say, tendencies to impartiality and to friendship). The importance of formative education to the building of character introduces some good fortune into the acquisition of character. One can have a good character with a disagreeable personality or have a fine personality with a bad character because personality is not typically a normative notion, whereas character is. See also CARDINAL VIRTUES, ETHICS, PER- SONAL IDENTITY, EPISTEMOLOGY, VIRTUE ETHIC. M.J.M.