Alan Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198250173
- eISBN:
- 9780191604072
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198250177.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter explains how a contextualist can argue for rationality both within a tradition of moral enquiry and, equally importantly, across such traditions. An essential part of the latter task is ...
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This chapter explains how a contextualist can argue for rationality both within a tradition of moral enquiry and, equally importantly, across such traditions. An essential part of the latter task is reiterating why, in some cases, an apparent challenge to our ethical outlook does not constitute a challenge at all. The work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor are considered, in order to argue that in so far as their tradition-based models of moral reasoning are plausible, they instantiate contextualism.Less
This chapter explains how a contextualist can argue for rationality both within a tradition of moral enquiry and, equally importantly, across such traditions. An essential part of the latter task is reiterating why, in some cases, an apparent challenge to our ethical outlook does not constitute a challenge at all. The work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor are considered, in order to argue that in so far as their tradition-based models of moral reasoning are plausible, they instantiate contextualism.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century ...
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This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century orthodoxies, such as emotivism, utilitarianism, and quandary ethics. Yet Cavell has little use for communitarian keywords such as narrative, tradition, and community. MacIntyre's misreading of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady provides an instructive example of how one sort of overemphasis on community serves to obscure individual differences which should be allowed to complicate community‐centered approaches.Less
This chapter compares Stanley Cavell's moral philosophy to Alasdair MacIntyre's influential variety of communitarianism. It argues that Cavell shares with MacIntyre a vigorous critique of mid‐century orthodoxies, such as emotivism, utilitarianism, and quandary ethics. Yet Cavell has little use for communitarian keywords such as narrative, tradition, and community. MacIntyre's misreading of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady provides an instructive example of how one sort of overemphasis on community serves to obscure individual differences which should be allowed to complicate community‐centered approaches.
Luke Bretherton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199566624
- eISBN:
- 9780191722042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199566624.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Religion and Society
Within Western liberal democracies a variety of answers are given to the question of how, within a polity wherein a plurality of different visions of the good life coexist, some form of common life ...
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Within Western liberal democracies a variety of answers are given to the question of how, within a polity wherein a plurality of different visions of the good life coexist, some form of common life is to be forged. This chapter outlines three of these answers and situates them within wider philosophical and theological debates about the role of religious reasons in public political deliberation. The first approach assessed is the translation model. The work of John Rawls is assessed as a paradigmatic example of such an approach. An alternative to the translation model is the conversation model. The emphasis in this model is on the attempt to take seriously the actual beliefs and practices of particular traditions as the basis for common deliberation. The work of Jeffrey Stout and Alasdair MacIntyre are discussed as examples of this approach. It is argued that they attempt to develop an account of how diverse and incommensurable moral traditions can deliberate about common action without having to find some agnostic or neutral language into which all ‘thick’ language must be translated. The third approach outlined is the hospitality model. While there is much overlap with the conversation model, the hospitality model represents a specifically Christian theological approach to determining common action between diverse traditions. Like the conversation model, the hospitality model seeks to give an account of how different traditions can engage directly with each other. But its emphasis is on common public action, rather than conversation or dialogue. The article ends with a comparative analysis of all three models.Less
Within Western liberal democracies a variety of answers are given to the question of how, within a polity wherein a plurality of different visions of the good life coexist, some form of common life is to be forged. This chapter outlines three of these answers and situates them within wider philosophical and theological debates about the role of religious reasons in public political deliberation. The first approach assessed is the translation model. The work of John Rawls is assessed as a paradigmatic example of such an approach. An alternative to the translation model is the conversation model. The emphasis in this model is on the attempt to take seriously the actual beliefs and practices of particular traditions as the basis for common deliberation. The work of Jeffrey Stout and Alasdair MacIntyre are discussed as examples of this approach. It is argued that they attempt to develop an account of how diverse and incommensurable moral traditions can deliberate about common action without having to find some agnostic or neutral language into which all ‘thick’ language must be translated. The third approach outlined is the hospitality model. While there is much overlap with the conversation model, the hospitality model represents a specifically Christian theological approach to determining common action between diverse traditions. Like the conversation model, the hospitality model seeks to give an account of how different traditions can engage directly with each other. But its emphasis is on common public action, rather than conversation or dialogue. The article ends with a comparative analysis of all three models.
A. Raghuramaraju
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198070122
- eISBN:
- 9780199080014
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070122.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
In India, philosophers have not attempted to overcome the existing limitation between social theory and social philosophy. Surprisingly, many of them are not even aware of this as a philosophical ...
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In India, philosophers have not attempted to overcome the existing limitation between social theory and social philosophy. Surprisingly, many of them are not even aware of this as a philosophical issue. This explains why there is a social variance between India and the West. Like the West, Indian society is becoming modern, but modernity in India has to coexist with the pre-modern. This introduction examines the uniqueness of Rene Descartes's method and presents a different perspective on modernity. It considers the intermediate attempts to overcome solipsism into three major movements, each constituting a distinct stage in the movement of ideas. It also considers the views of Alasdair MacIntyre on modernity and tradition in the West.Less
In India, philosophers have not attempted to overcome the existing limitation between social theory and social philosophy. Surprisingly, many of them are not even aware of this as a philosophical issue. This explains why there is a social variance between India and the West. Like the West, Indian society is becoming modern, but modernity in India has to coexist with the pre-modern. This introduction examines the uniqueness of Rene Descartes's method and presents a different perspective on modernity. It considers the intermediate attempts to overcome solipsism into three major movements, each constituting a distinct stage in the movement of ideas. It also considers the views of Alasdair MacIntyre on modernity and tradition in the West.
Nancey Murphy and Warren S. Brown
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199215393
- eISBN:
- 9780191707025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215393.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter deals with a central theme of the book: a philosophical analysis of the concept of morally responsible action. The account of moral agency worked out by Alasdair MacIntyre is utilized. ...
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This chapter deals with a central theme of the book: a philosophical analysis of the concept of morally responsible action. The account of moral agency worked out by Alasdair MacIntyre is utilized. In this account, morally responsible action depends (initially) on the ability to evaluate that which moves one to act in light of a concept of the good. The cognitive prerequisites for such action would include a sense of self, a narrative memory, the ability to run behavioral scenarios and predict their outcome, the ability to represent the future, and high-order symbolic language. In light of this, the problem of weakness of will and the meaning of free will are discussed.Less
This chapter deals with a central theme of the book: a philosophical analysis of the concept of morally responsible action. The account of moral agency worked out by Alasdair MacIntyre is utilized. In this account, morally responsible action depends (initially) on the ability to evaluate that which moves one to act in light of a concept of the good. The cognitive prerequisites for such action would include a sense of self, a narrative memory, the ability to run behavioral scenarios and predict their outcome, the ability to represent the future, and high-order symbolic language. In light of this, the problem of weakness of will and the meaning of free will are discussed.
John Wall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195182569
- eISBN:
- 9780199835737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195182561.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and ...
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The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and historical goods. Aristotle and contemporary Aristotelians like Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas show how moral life depends on traditional and social narratives, but they separate the activities of poetics and ethical phronesis and so reduce ethical narrative to something passively received instead of also actively created. Martha Nussbaum draws a closer relation of ethics and poetics through an Aristotelian conception of moral tragedy, but subordinates poetics to an instrumental means toward otherwise fixed moral norms. Paul Ricoeur shows that the narration of goods rests on a poetics of the will in which the self confronts its own freely chosen radical evil by affirming, still more primordially, its passive-active capability or “gift” for narrating the good in the first place. Beyond Ricoeur, a deeper Greek and Aristotelian sense for historical moral tragedy can be introduced into such moral narration by first defining radical evil as the tragic tension of freedom and finitude, and second affirming a still more primordial human capability for rendering this tension productive of ever more radically inclusive historical narration.Less
The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and historical goods. Aristotle and contemporary Aristotelians like Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas show how moral life depends on traditional and social narratives, but they separate the activities of poetics and ethical phronesis and so reduce ethical narrative to something passively received instead of also actively created. Martha Nussbaum draws a closer relation of ethics and poetics through an Aristotelian conception of moral tragedy, but subordinates poetics to an instrumental means toward otherwise fixed moral norms. Paul Ricoeur shows that the narration of goods rests on a poetics of the will in which the self confronts its own freely chosen radical evil by affirming, still more primordially, its passive-active capability or “gift” for narrating the good in the first place. Beyond Ricoeur, a deeper Greek and Aristotelian sense for historical moral tragedy can be introduced into such moral narration by first defining radical evil as the tragic tension of freedom and finitude, and second affirming a still more primordial human capability for rendering this tension productive of ever more radically inclusive historical narration.
David Corfield
Apostolos Doxiadis and Barry Mazur (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149042
- eISBN:
- 9781400842681
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149042.003.0009
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics
This chapter examines the rationality of mathematical practice in relation to narrative. It begins with a discussion of Alasdair MacIntyre's account of rational enquiry, Three Rival Versions of Moral ...
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This chapter examines the rationality of mathematical practice in relation to narrative. It begins with a discussion of Alasdair MacIntyre's account of rational enquiry, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry, and how this might translate to scientific and mathematical enquiry. It then considers the telos of mathematical enquiry, along with rival claims to truth as the aim of mathematics. The chapter argues that to be fully rational, mathematicians must embrace narrative as a basic tool for understanding the nature of their discipline and research. It also calls for the partial validity of a pre-Enlightenment epistemology of mathematics as a craft whose advance is made possible only through a certain discipleship.Less
This chapter examines the rationality of mathematical practice in relation to narrative. It begins with a discussion of Alasdair MacIntyre's account of rational enquiry, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry, and how this might translate to scientific and mathematical enquiry. It then considers the telos of mathematical enquiry, along with rival claims to truth as the aim of mathematics. The chapter argues that to be fully rational, mathematicians must embrace narrative as a basic tool for understanding the nature of their discipline and research. It also calls for the partial validity of a pre-Enlightenment epistemology of mathematics as a craft whose advance is made possible only through a certain discipleship.
Robert Wokler and Christopher Brooke
Bryan Garsten (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147888
- eISBN:
- 9781400842407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147888.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter retraces Alasdair MacIntyre's own construal of the Enlightenment Project's trajectory in order to show how his interpretation of an intellectual tradition depends above all on his ...
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This chapter retraces Alasdair MacIntyre's own construal of the Enlightenment Project's trajectory in order to show how his interpretation of an intellectual tradition depends above all on his assessment of its impact. It argues that MacIntyre's Enlightenment Project is largely unreconstructed, unredeemed, and undiminished in its failure, even after substantial embellishment. His three principal works comprise an extraordinary indictment of the theoretical and practical legacy of eighteenth-century philosophy. His account projects the Enlightenment's implications and influence as they stem from its aims. He holds it to blame for some of the most sinister aspects of a morally vacuous civilization, cursed by the malediction of unlicenced Reason. His intellectual history of the period forms one of the mainsprings of his own philosophy.Less
This chapter retraces Alasdair MacIntyre's own construal of the Enlightenment Project's trajectory in order to show how his interpretation of an intellectual tradition depends above all on his assessment of its impact. It argues that MacIntyre's Enlightenment Project is largely unreconstructed, unredeemed, and undiminished in its failure, even after substantial embellishment. His three principal works comprise an extraordinary indictment of the theoretical and practical legacy of eighteenth-century philosophy. His account projects the Enlightenment's implications and influence as they stem from its aims. He holds it to blame for some of the most sinister aspects of a morally vacuous civilization, cursed by the malediction of unlicenced Reason. His intellectual history of the period forms one of the mainsprings of his own philosophy.
Maurizio Viroli
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198293583
- eISBN:
- 9780191600289
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198293585.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Argues for the possibility of patriotism without nationalism. Contemporary debates on patriotism have focused on how to uphold patriotism after the disasters of the nationalistic patriotism of ...
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Argues for the possibility of patriotism without nationalism. Contemporary debates on patriotism have focused on how to uphold patriotism after the disasters of the nationalistic patriotism of Fascism and Nazism. While Habermas disconnected the universal political principles from nationality, communitarians like MacIntyre have emphasized the importance of shared pre‐political identities. Instead of extreme, contemporary pluralistic societies require political unity based on the values of the republic in the tradition of Tocqueville, Walzer, and Taylor.Less
Argues for the possibility of patriotism without nationalism. Contemporary debates on patriotism have focused on how to uphold patriotism after the disasters of the nationalistic patriotism of Fascism and Nazism. While Habermas disconnected the universal political principles from nationality, communitarians like MacIntyre have emphasized the importance of shared pre‐political identities. Instead of extreme, contemporary pluralistic societies require political unity based on the values of the republic in the tradition of Tocqueville, Walzer, and Taylor.
C. Stephen Evans
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199272174
- eISBN:
- 9780191602061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199272174.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Though Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous authorship poses interpretive challenges, its ironical and humorous literary character does not make it impossible to develop from it an ethical theory. Readers of ...
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Though Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous authorship poses interpretive challenges, its ironical and humorous literary character does not make it impossible to develop from it an ethical theory. Readers of Kierkegaard must be wary of fashionable attempts to make Kierkegaard ‘postmodern’. They should avoid as well the temptation to understand the ethical life as a humanistic stance devoid of belief in God; Kierkegaard’s ethicists are actually pious believers who attend church regularly. Finally, Alasdair MacIntyre’s reading of Kierkegaard must also be resisted: Kierkegaard and the pseudonyms of Either/Or do not advocate a doctrine of radical choice, as MacIntyre claims. Instead, the three spheres or stages are ranked in the order that they are because the higher spheres realize the aims of the lower ones. The ethical life is not abandoned in one’s movement to the religious life; instead, it is fulfiled.Less
Though Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous authorship poses interpretive challenges, its ironical and humorous literary character does not make it impossible to develop from it an ethical theory. Readers of Kierkegaard must be wary of fashionable attempts to make Kierkegaard ‘postmodern’. They should avoid as well the temptation to understand the ethical life as a humanistic stance devoid of belief in God; Kierkegaard’s ethicists are actually pious believers who attend church regularly. Finally, Alasdair MacIntyre’s reading of Kierkegaard must also be resisted: Kierkegaard and the pseudonyms of Either/Or do not advocate a doctrine of radical choice, as MacIntyre claims. Instead, the three spheres or stages are ranked in the order that they are because the higher spheres realize the aims of the lower ones. The ethical life is not abandoned in one’s movement to the religious life; instead, it is fulfiled.
Rebecca Gordon
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199336432
- eISBN:
- 9780199373291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199336432.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores an approach that allows us to understand how institutionalized state torture not only attacks individual and social bodies but also distorts the character of all those who make ...
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This chapter explores an approach that allows us to understand how institutionalized state torture not only attacks individual and social bodies but also distorts the character of all those who make torture possible. This view is based on the contemporary virtue ethics of the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. The chapter explores how MacIntyre’s understanding of human practices illumines aspects of torture not addressed by consequentialist and deontological arguments alone. For MacIntyre, a practice is a “coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity.” The chapter details several other key concepts, including telos, virtue, and tradition, and addresses three main challenges to MacIntrye’s approach.Less
This chapter explores an approach that allows us to understand how institutionalized state torture not only attacks individual and social bodies but also distorts the character of all those who make torture possible. This view is based on the contemporary virtue ethics of the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. The chapter explores how MacIntyre’s understanding of human practices illumines aspects of torture not addressed by consequentialist and deontological arguments alone. For MacIntyre, a practice is a “coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity.” The chapter details several other key concepts, including telos, virtue, and tradition, and addresses three main challenges to MacIntrye’s approach.
John Davenport
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225750
- eISBN:
- 9780823235896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225750.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Beginning with two commentaries on Aristotle, this chapter focuses on themes in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, including Alasdair MacIntyre's accounts of practices and ...
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Beginning with two commentaries on Aristotle, this chapter focuses on themes in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, including Alasdair MacIntyre's accounts of practices and common goods. The evaluation of these theories, which shows that they support the existential conception of striving will, is aimed at resolving the paradox of eudaimonism, including ideas proposed by MacIntyre, John Cooper, Paula Gottlieb, and Gary Watson, and argues that none avoids the need to postulate projective motivation. This helps explain why the revival of virtue ethics has been unable to show how the goals we ought to pursue and the virtues required to sustain pursuit of them are fully traceable to (or explainable from) the telos of human psychology or the nature of human agency. This chapter argues that the same paradox arises in neo-Aristotelian accounts of friendship and MacIntyre's account of practices; for projective motivation plays a key role in both these phenomena. The views of Nancy Sherman, Karl Marx, John Rawls, Rosalind Hursthouse, David Brink, and Baruch Spinoza are also considered.Less
Beginning with two commentaries on Aristotle, this chapter focuses on themes in neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, including Alasdair MacIntyre's accounts of practices and common goods. The evaluation of these theories, which shows that they support the existential conception of striving will, is aimed at resolving the paradox of eudaimonism, including ideas proposed by MacIntyre, John Cooper, Paula Gottlieb, and Gary Watson, and argues that none avoids the need to postulate projective motivation. This helps explain why the revival of virtue ethics has been unable to show how the goals we ought to pursue and the virtues required to sustain pursuit of them are fully traceable to (or explainable from) the telos of human psychology or the nature of human agency. This chapter argues that the same paradox arises in neo-Aristotelian accounts of friendship and MacIntyre's account of practices; for projective motivation plays a key role in both these phenomena. The views of Nancy Sherman, Karl Marx, John Rawls, Rosalind Hursthouse, David Brink, and Baruch Spinoza are also considered.
Lord Sutherland
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263518
- eISBN:
- 9780191734021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263518.003.0016
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses the usefulness, the appropriateness, and the viability of the metaphor of pilgrimage, as it is applied in the post-twentieth century world to the search for moral and spiritual ...
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This lecture discusses the usefulness, the appropriateness, and the viability of the metaphor of pilgrimage, as it is applied in the post-twentieth century world to the search for moral and spiritual fulfilment. The lecture suggests some parallels with Isaiah Berlin's rejection of the central premise in utopian thought, where the idea of a perfect whole where all good things existed was coherent. It is also implied that there were parallels to some concerns in the recent work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Ernest Gellner; several themes that were central to their theses are identified.Less
This lecture discusses the usefulness, the appropriateness, and the viability of the metaphor of pilgrimage, as it is applied in the post-twentieth century world to the search for moral and spiritual fulfilment. The lecture suggests some parallels with Isaiah Berlin's rejection of the central premise in utopian thought, where the idea of a perfect whole where all good things existed was coherent. It is also implied that there were parallels to some concerns in the recent work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Ernest Gellner; several themes that were central to their theses are identified.
ROBERT P. GEORGE
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198267713
- eISBN:
- 9780191683343
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198267713.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
This chapter considers Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique, from a Thomistic-Aristotelian perspective, of the mainstream of the liberal tradition in moral and political philosophy in his important book ...
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This chapter considers Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique, from a Thomistic-Aristotelian perspective, of the mainstream of the liberal tradition in moral and political philosophy in his important book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? This chapter expresses concern on MacIntyre’s strong ‘particularism,’ (viz., his view of moral inquiry as not only ‘tradition-constitutive,’ but also ‘tradition-constituted’) which renders the idea of objective moral truth highly and unnecessarily problematic, and risks collapsing into a form of moral relativism. Certain modifications have been suggested of the view MacIntyre defends that would give ‘tradition’ its due moral analysis, yet avoid any strong relativist implications.Less
This chapter considers Alasdair MacIntyre’s critique, from a Thomistic-Aristotelian perspective, of the mainstream of the liberal tradition in moral and political philosophy in his important book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? This chapter expresses concern on MacIntyre’s strong ‘particularism,’ (viz., his view of moral inquiry as not only ‘tradition-constitutive,’ but also ‘tradition-constituted’) which renders the idea of objective moral truth highly and unnecessarily problematic, and risks collapsing into a form of moral relativism. Certain modifications have been suggested of the view MacIntyre defends that would give ‘tradition’ its due moral analysis, yet avoid any strong relativist implications.
Talbot Brewer
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199557882
- eISBN:
- 9780191720918
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557882.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This Introduction starts by discussing the purpose of looking at ethics in philosophy and examines the history of ethics in a wider context. Virtue ethics is mentioned in relation to Elizabeth ...
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This Introduction starts by discussing the purpose of looking at ethics in philosophy and examines the history of ethics in a wider context. Virtue ethics is mentioned in relation to Elizabeth Anscombe's ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ and Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. These two works are discussed in detail. The Introduction goes on to outline the place virtue ethics has in contemporary philosophy. It then outlines the main concern of the book, which is to develop and extend some of the more radical themes sounded by Anscombe and MacIntyre and analyse them in a new light.Less
This Introduction starts by discussing the purpose of looking at ethics in philosophy and examines the history of ethics in a wider context. Virtue ethics is mentioned in relation to Elizabeth Anscombe's ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ and Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. These two works are discussed in detail. The Introduction goes on to outline the place virtue ethics has in contemporary philosophy. It then outlines the main concern of the book, which is to develop and extend some of the more radical themes sounded by Anscombe and MacIntyre and analyse them in a new light.
John Barry
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199695393
- eISBN:
- 9780191738982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199695393.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Vulnerability and associated concepts such as dependence, are relatively little-used terms within mainstream political theory. Self-consciously working within an eco-feminist perspective, this ...
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Vulnerability and associated concepts such as dependence, are relatively little-used terms within mainstream political theory. Self-consciously working within an eco-feminist perspective, this chapter indicates that issues of unsustainability have brought considerations of vulnerability centre stage. Another key concept outlined is ‘sequestration’ (taken from Giddens), denoting the deliberate ‘hiding away’ of ‘existentially troubling’ aspects of modern living, that remind us of our vulnerable and dependent natures. This chapter also discusses the work of MacIntyre on vulnerability, before turning to an analysis of the ‘limiting case’ of the cultural devastation experienced by the Crow nation in the nineteenth century, and what it teaches us about resilience and adaptability. The final section of this chapter offers a discussion of illness, death, and human flourishing. This chapter makes the case for a more explicit acknowledgement and integration of illness, disability, dependence, and death into our conceptualizations about a normal human life, and more than that, a full account of a flourishing human life requires it.Less
Vulnerability and associated concepts such as dependence, are relatively little-used terms within mainstream political theory. Self-consciously working within an eco-feminist perspective, this chapter indicates that issues of unsustainability have brought considerations of vulnerability centre stage. Another key concept outlined is ‘sequestration’ (taken from Giddens), denoting the deliberate ‘hiding away’ of ‘existentially troubling’ aspects of modern living, that remind us of our vulnerable and dependent natures. This chapter also discusses the work of MacIntyre on vulnerability, before turning to an analysis of the ‘limiting case’ of the cultural devastation experienced by the Crow nation in the nineteenth century, and what it teaches us about resilience and adaptability. The final section of this chapter offers a discussion of illness, death, and human flourishing. This chapter makes the case for a more explicit acknowledgement and integration of illness, disability, dependence, and death into our conceptualizations about a normal human life, and more than that, a full account of a flourishing human life requires it.
Mike W. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195133257
- eISBN:
- 9780199848706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195133257.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Just as personal commitments shape the character of professionals, failures of personal commitment and character enter into understanding their wrongdoing. We can distinguish two types of ...
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Just as personal commitments shape the character of professionals, failures of personal commitment and character enter into understanding their wrongdoing. We can distinguish two types of explanations of wrongdoing. Character explanations appeal to features of persons, either general flaws or specific failings manifested in immoral acts. Social explanations, in contrast, appeal to outside structures and pressures that contribute to misconduct, including influences within professions, corporations, and the wider society. This chapter seeks to renew an appreciation of character explanations, distinguishes some of their main varieties, and shows how they complement rather than compete with social explanations. The opening section clarifies how character explanations carry explanatory meaning and why their reference to values does not render them suspect. The concluding section integrates character and social explanations within a virtue-ethics framework for understanding mixed motives in response to multiple social influences, drawing upon and recasting Alasdair MacIntyre's distinctions between internal and external goods and between public and private goods.Less
Just as personal commitments shape the character of professionals, failures of personal commitment and character enter into understanding their wrongdoing. We can distinguish two types of explanations of wrongdoing. Character explanations appeal to features of persons, either general flaws or specific failings manifested in immoral acts. Social explanations, in contrast, appeal to outside structures and pressures that contribute to misconduct, including influences within professions, corporations, and the wider society. This chapter seeks to renew an appreciation of character explanations, distinguishes some of their main varieties, and shows how they complement rather than compete with social explanations. The opening section clarifies how character explanations carry explanatory meaning and why their reference to values does not render them suspect. The concluding section integrates character and social explanations within a virtue-ethics framework for understanding mixed motives in response to multiple social influences, drawing upon and recasting Alasdair MacIntyre's distinctions between internal and external goods and between public and private goods.
Jonathan D. Teubner
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198767176
- eISBN:
- 9780191821356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198767176.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
‘An Ethical Postlude’ returns to reflect directly on an understanding of tradition that frames how Boethius and Benedict relate to Augustine vis-à-vis the theme of prayer. This final chapter reflects ...
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‘An Ethical Postlude’ returns to reflect directly on an understanding of tradition that frames how Boethius and Benedict relate to Augustine vis-à-vis the theme of prayer. This final chapter reflects on the kinematics of tradition, that is, on the actual motions qua motions of the act of tradition. This chapter engages the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Jeffrey Stout, both of whom have offered challenges to religious ethicists to broaden their historical horizons. Through critical engagement with MacIntyre and Stout, this chapter presents a case for an historical approach to Christian existence which can still give rise to meaningful moral and ethical reflection without having to accept (consciously or unconsciously) a Hegelian metaphysics of history.Less
‘An Ethical Postlude’ returns to reflect directly on an understanding of tradition that frames how Boethius and Benedict relate to Augustine vis-à-vis the theme of prayer. This final chapter reflects on the kinematics of tradition, that is, on the actual motions qua motions of the act of tradition. This chapter engages the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Jeffrey Stout, both of whom have offered challenges to religious ethicists to broaden their historical horizons. Through critical engagement with MacIntyre and Stout, this chapter presents a case for an historical approach to Christian existence which can still give rise to meaningful moral and ethical reflection without having to accept (consciously or unconsciously) a Hegelian metaphysics of history.
Martha C. Nussbaum
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199777853
- eISBN:
- 9780190267612
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199777853.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter reviews the book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1989) by Alasdair MacIntyre. In the second book of the Politics, Aristotle asks whether it is a good thing to encourage changes in ...
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This chapter reviews the book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1989) by Alasdair MacIntyre. In the second book of the Politics, Aristotle asks whether it is a good thing to encourage changes in society. Should people be offered rewards for inventing some change in the traditional laws? Should we, on the other hand, listen to those who wish to keep ancestral traditions fixed and immune from criticism? Aristotle's conclusion is that change should not be too easy. His reflections about justice and legal change expose a deep and pervasive problem, which is central to MacIntyre's book. MacIntyre identifies four traditions as especially important in the history of Western ethical thought: the tradition of ancient Greek thought about virtue; the tradition of Christian thought; the moral tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment; and the traitor to the above traditions, the tradition of modern liberalism. His central concepts include the nature of “rational justification,” the relationship between argument and authority, and the value of local, rather than universal, norms.Less
This chapter reviews the book Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1989) by Alasdair MacIntyre. In the second book of the Politics, Aristotle asks whether it is a good thing to encourage changes in society. Should people be offered rewards for inventing some change in the traditional laws? Should we, on the other hand, listen to those who wish to keep ancestral traditions fixed and immune from criticism? Aristotle's conclusion is that change should not be too easy. His reflections about justice and legal change expose a deep and pervasive problem, which is central to MacIntyre's book. MacIntyre identifies four traditions as especially important in the history of Western ethical thought: the tradition of ancient Greek thought about virtue; the tradition of Christian thought; the moral tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment; and the traitor to the above traditions, the tradition of modern liberalism. His central concepts include the nature of “rational justification,” the relationship between argument and authority, and the value of local, rather than universal, norms.
Rebecca Gordon
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199336432
- eISBN:
- 9780199373291
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199336432.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 reopened what many people in this country had long assumed was a settled ethical question, that is, whether torture is morally permissible. This book ...
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The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 reopened what many people in this country had long assumed was a settled ethical question, that is, whether torture is morally permissible. This book argues that 9/11 did not “change everything” and that institutionalized state torture is as wrong today as it was on the day before those terrible attacks. U.S. involvement in torture did undergo a change after 9/11, specifically a shift away from covert training and support for other regimes that practice torture and toward a direct and quasi-overt use of torture, by many agencies including the CIA, from Abu Ghraib to Guantánamo. Utilitarian and deontological arguments, which treat torture as isolated actions, do not provide sufficient theoretical purchase on the ethics of torture. However, an examination of both the academic literature and the editorials of two national newspapers demonstrates that most contemporary arguments do treat torture as an episodic phenomenon, rather than as a socially embedded practice. A virtue ethics approach to torture is proposed, based in part on the work of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. An examination of torture’s effect on the four cardinal virtues—courage, temperance, justice, and prudence or practical reason— together with the Christian graces (faith, hope, and love) suggests specific ways in which each of these is deformed. The conclusion is drawn that dismantling the practice of torture in the United States must begin with an accounting of what has been done and calling to account those who have done it in the name of national security.Less
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 reopened what many people in this country had long assumed was a settled ethical question, that is, whether torture is morally permissible. This book argues that 9/11 did not “change everything” and that institutionalized state torture is as wrong today as it was on the day before those terrible attacks. U.S. involvement in torture did undergo a change after 9/11, specifically a shift away from covert training and support for other regimes that practice torture and toward a direct and quasi-overt use of torture, by many agencies including the CIA, from Abu Ghraib to Guantánamo. Utilitarian and deontological arguments, which treat torture as isolated actions, do not provide sufficient theoretical purchase on the ethics of torture. However, an examination of both the academic literature and the editorials of two national newspapers demonstrates that most contemporary arguments do treat torture as an episodic phenomenon, rather than as a socially embedded practice. A virtue ethics approach to torture is proposed, based in part on the work of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. An examination of torture’s effect on the four cardinal virtues—courage, temperance, justice, and prudence or practical reason— together with the Christian graces (faith, hope, and love) suggests specific ways in which each of these is deformed. The conclusion is drawn that dismantling the practice of torture in the United States must begin with an accounting of what has been done and calling to account those who have done it in the name of national security.
