Which Ethics for the Question Raised by Expanded Reason? Toward a Plausible Answer

This article addresses the ethical question at the heart of the Expanded Reason programme of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria: which ethical framework can guide the university in integrating knowledge, research, and teaching in a way that recognizes the unity of truth, the dignity of the person, and the call to human flourishing. Framed within the work of the University's Virtues and Values Education Centre, we argue that virtue ethics provides the most coherent and comprehensive response to this question because it does not treat ethics merely as a matter of rules or outcomes, but as the formation of persons capable of seeking truth and acting wisely. As a first-person ethics, virtue ethics focuses on the moral agent rather than on isolated actions, emphasizing the cultivation of character, the development of stable dispositions, and the central role of practical wisdom ( phronesis ). This perspective illuminates the ethical significance of self-formation, responsibility, and the unity of knowledge and action, offering a framework capable of grounding the anthropological, epistemological, ethical, and existential dimensions that Expanded Reason seeks to integrate. By articulating how virtue ethics unites truth, goodness, freedom, and meaning, we show that it provides the ethical horizon necessary for guiding personal and institutional life within the university.