After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Second Edition

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268006113 ISBN 13: 9780268006112

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984

Discusses the nature of moral disagreement, Nietzsche, Aristotle, heroic societies, and the virtue of of justice

Review:

Morality, according to Alasdair MacIntyre, is not what it used to be. In the Aristotelian tradition of ancient Greece and medieval Europe, morality enabled the transformation from untutored human nature as it happened to be to human nature as it could be if it realized its telos (fundamental goal). Eventually, belief in Aristotelian teleology waned, leaving the idea of imperfect human nature in conflict with the perfectionist aims of morality. The conflict dooms to failure any attempt to justify the claims of morality, whether based on emotion, such as Hume's was, or on reason, as in the case of Kant. The result is that moral discourse and practice in the contemporary world is hollow: although the language and appearance of morality remains, the substance is no longer there. Disagreements on moral matters appeal to incommensurable values and so are interminable; the only use of moral language is manipulative.

The claims presented in After Virtue are certainly audacious, but the historical erudition and philosophical acuity behind MacIntyre's powerful critique of modern moral philosophy cannot be disregarded. Moreover, independently of its principal claims, the book, first published in 1981, helped to stimulate philosophical work on the virtues, to reinvigorate traditionalist and communitarian thought, and to provoke valuable discussion in the history of moral philosophy. It was so widely discussed that MacIntyre added another chapter to the second edition in order to reply to his critics. After Virtue continues to deserve attention from philosophers, historians, and anyone interested in moral philosophy and its history. --Glenn Branch

About the Author:

Alasdair MacIntyre is Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books, including Marxism and Christianity and Against the Self: Images of the Age, the editor of Hume’s Ethical Writings and Hegel: A Collection of Critical Essays, and co-editor (with Stanely Hauerwas) of Revisions, a series of boks on ethics published by the University of Notre Dame Press.