Raja Halwani, Virtuous Liaisons: Care, Love, Sex, and Virtue Ethics (Chicago: Open Court, 2003), xi + 315 pp. Virtuous Liaisons has three main chapters, one devoted to care, the next to love, and the final one to sex. The theme of virtue ethics runs throughout. Halwani writes: "I assume a particular version of virtue ethics and use this version as the basis for an investigation into what virtue ethics might have to 'say' on three crucial areas of our lives: care, love, and sex" (10). Because these three areas are so important to our lives it makes sense to treat them together in a virtue-centered conception of morality. "Add to this the idea that intimacy, in one form or another, is humanly important, and we can see why intimacy as a thread through care, romantic love, and sex forms one justification for discussing these three phenomena" (7). These are "domains of life that are important, period. In this respect, any ethical theory worthy of consideration will have to address them" (7).
