MacIntyre, Alasdair

Average customer rating: Slightly dull sequel to AFTER VIRTUE A major work of contemporary philosophy Almost more trouble than it was worth Whose JusticeMWhich Rationality? a pivotal work

Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Alasdair C. MacIntyre Manufacturer: University of Notre Dame Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Reference | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Second Edition Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century (Routledge Classics) Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity ASIN: 0268019444

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Slightly dull sequel to AFTER VIRTUE.......2003-04-18

The overarching thesis of the book is sound nonetheless. To give a very basic outline, MacIntyre traces several traditions, broadly being the predominant Hellenist and Christian ones, before moving on to establish liberalism as its own tradition. Not every philosopher is give exhaustive or detailed treatment. Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, and Hume are the real stars here. The Scottish Enlightenment is dwelt upon in much detail to explain Hume, so other important philosophical movements such as British Empiricism, German Idealism, etc. are marginalized. Despite these omissions [the book is long enough as it is], the central thesis coheres nicely and arrives at its conclusion in a most decisive manner.

Though MacIntyre's thesis that liberalism itself constitutes a tradition may seem tame, taken into proper perspective, it is actually quite revolutionary. Considering that modernity [à la Descartes] rejected all appeal to tradition and sought to construct a purely rational account of the human and his society and to, thereby, construct a utopian future applicable to all times and places, to claim that it is itself a traditional is a smack on the face that effectively historicizes the Enlightenment tradition. Therefore, justice and rationality-in other words what is proper action and what are the proper reasons for acting-must be understood through the historicized lens of the context of a specific tradition that any ethical discourse plugs into for its legitimacy.

The book concludes with a cogent discussion of the nature of traditions, their birth, evolution, death, and how we can understand the nature of our own beliefs as being a part of tradition. The key, determinant events in these narratives are `epistemological crises'. MacIntyre tries to makes the case that Thomism has hitherto best weathered the tests of time.

A major work of contemporary philosophy.......2003-03-22

This is a very challenging book to read, but also one that will deepen your thinking about the world, whether you agree with it or not.

We largely take it for granted that (1) people disagree significantly about a wide range of issues related to ethics, and that (2) people do not agree about enough standards of rationality to resolve these ethical disagreements. MacIntyre puts this by saying that "logical incompatibility and incommensurability" both obtain (p. 351). What conclusion should we draw from these facts? One common response is relativism, which is roughly the view that the truth or falsity of a claim depends on the perspective from which it is evaluated. However, MacIntyre argues against relativism based on a brilliant reinterpretation of several major Western philosophical traditions.

The Western Englightenment (of which Descartes is paradigmatic), rejected appeals to tradition, canonical texts and authority, and attempted to put in their place the "appeal to principles undeniable by any rational person," and hence independent of culture, history, etc. "Yet both the thinkers of the Enlightenment and their successors proved unable to agree as to what precisely those principles were which could be found undeniable by all rational persons" (p. 6). Since the Enlightenment, most Western thinkers have either (1) continued to search for principles that are universally acceptable to all minimally rational humans (and continued to fail in this quest), or (2) given up on the quest for universal principles of reason, but -- paradoxically -- continued to assume the Enlightenment prejudice that any rational justification would have to be universal, ahistorical, and acultural.

MacIntyre suggests that neither approach has learned the lesson of the failure of the Enlightenment project, which is that any rational justification has to be parochial, historical and in a particular cultural context.

Since rational justification must be historical, the bearers of justification are not "theories" in the abstract, but embodied traditions. MacIntyre examines four sample traditions in this book (although he admits there are many more): the Aristotelian-Thomistic, the Augustinean, and those of the "Scottish Enlightenment" and modern liberalism.

Traditions like these can undergo "epistemological crises": situations in which a tradition, by its own standards, increasingly discloses "new inadequacies, hitherto unrecognized incoherences, and new problems for the solution of which there seem to be insufficient or no resources within the established fabric of belief" (p. 362). A tradition may find a way to survive such a crisis (as Thomas Aquinas helped Christianity to do by synthesizing Augustineanism and Aristotelianism), but it may also fail. And because the possibility of failure is there, relativism is false: a tradition can come to see that its claims are false even by its own standards.

Even if my tradition is not in an obvious crisis, I can realize that I have a rational justification for rejecting or modifying it. Suppose I am confronted with an alien intellectual tradition which is both incompatible and incommensurable with my own. Because the two are incompatible, I cannot simply agree with both traditions. But because of incommensurability, I cannot directly convince the adherents of the rival tradition that they are wrong (nor can they directly convince me). I can, however, learn to be "bilingual" in the two traditions. The Aristotelian can learn, for example, to "speak Confucian," as it were. Having done so, he occupies a special perspective, from which he may conclude that the Confucian worldview offers a superior interpretation of the strengths and weaknesses of his own tradition. Or he may conclude the opposite. Or he may conclude that some sort of synthesis is possible, which is superior to either one individually. For this reason also, relativism is not true, despite the fact that traditions are, when speaking one to the other, incommensurable: someone occupying one tradition *can* see that his views are fundamentally mistaken.

MacIntyre argues that, of the four traditions he considers in this book, three have entered inescapable epistemological crises, while one (the tradition of Thomas Aquinas) has answered all challenges so far. The bulk of the book is a history of the four traditions. If you want to get the outline of MacIntyre's view, I recommend chapters 1 (the intro), 7-8 (on Aristotle), 9 (on Augustine), 10-11 (on Aquinas's synthesis), 16 (on Hume), 17 (on liberalism), and 18-20 (MacIntyre's grand theory).

This is, of course, an easier book to read if you have read some previous philosophy (Thomas Kuhn's _The Structure of Scientific Revolutions_ is in the background of much of what MacIntyre says, even though he doesn't cite Kuhn very often), but a bright, motivated non-philosopher can read and greatly enjoy this book too.

Almost more trouble than it was worth.......2000-07-11

So how, in his mind, does his account of rationality and justice 'win?' It seems automatic to seek some purely objective standard by which to weigh the arguments of each of these specific systems, but as MacIntyre points out, the mere idea of a purely objective standard is deeply embedded in the Enlightenment tradition: a tradition which MacIntyre showed in "After Virtue" to be seriously flawed. Instead, the system first must be internally coherent but second, and more importantly, must overcome epistimological crises that it faces. A certain system gets into trouble if a rival system can better resolve the epistimological crises facing it. MacIntyre thinks that the Aristotelian tradition, especially as embedded in Thomism, 'wins' by this account. While the sense of victory is not as obvious as in After Virtue, I think that MacIntyre has a coherent and reasonably compelling argument in his favor.

This book can be read in isolation, but is best read after reading After Virtue, giving you a clearer idea of the problem that MacIntyre is addressing.

Whose JusticeMWhich Rationality?.......2000-04-29

a pivotal work.......1999-05-19

Average customer rating: The Enlightenment as perceived by a typical reactionary

After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition Alasdair MacIntyre Manufacturer: University of Notre Dame Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: The Trouble with Principle A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century (Routledge Classics) Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy ASIN: 0268035040

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"MacIntyre's arguments deserve to be taken seriously by anybody who thinks that the mere acceptance of pluralism is not the same thing as democracy, who worries about politicians wishing to give opinions about everything under the sun, and who stops to think of how important Aristotelian ethics have been for centuries." --The Economist

When After Virtue first appeared in 1981, it was recognized as a significant and potentially controversial critique of contemporary moral philosophy. Newsweek called it "a stunning new study of ethics by one of the foremost moral philosophers in the English-speaking world." Now, twenty-five years later, the University of Notre Dame Press is pleased to release the third edition of After Virtue, which includes a new prologue "After Virtue after a Quarter of a Century."

In this classic work, Alasdair MacIntyre examines the historical and conceptual roots of the idea of virtue, diagnoses the reasons for its absence in personal and public life, and offers a tentative proposal for its recovery. While the individual chapters are wide-ranging, once pieced together they comprise a penetrating and focused argument about the price of modernity. In the Third Edition prologue, MacIntyre revisits the central theses of the book and concludes that although he has learned a great deal and has supplemented and refined his theses and arguments in other works, he has "as yet found no reason for abandoning the major contentions" of this book. He remains "committed to the thesis that it is only from the standpoint of a very different tradition, one whose beliefs and presuppositions were articulated in their classical form by Aristotle, that we can understand both the genesis and the predicament of moral modernity."

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The Enlightenment as perceived by a typical reactionary.......2007-05-03

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Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922 Alasdair MacIntyre Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Philosophers | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Philosophy | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays Morality: The Catholic View Knowledge and Faith (Stein, Edith//the Collected Works of Edith Stein) Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam ASIN: 074254995X

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Average customer rating: Philosophical account for the need of virtues as to animals and humans Unflinching attempt to address fundamental questions Okay, so I was wrong Has MacIntyre gone soft? MacIntyre's project is starting to produce results.

Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues Alasdair MacIntyre Manufacturer: Open Court ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books | Anatomy | Animals | Bacteriology | Biochemistry | Bioelectricity | Bioinformatics | Biology | Biophysics | Biorhythms | Biostatistics | Biotechnology | Botany | Collection & Preservation | Ecology | Ecotoxicology | Fungi | General | Genetics | Microscopy & Techniques | Paleontology | Plants | Population Biology | Research | Taxonomic Classification | Zoology Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition Whose Justice? Which Rationality? After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Second Edition The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays ASIN: 081269452X

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Philosophical account for the need of virtues as to animals and humans.......2006-11-22

Unflinching attempt to address fundamental questions.......2003-03-07

The way he argues that we need the virtues is quite startling in originality. Generally, ethicists take as their standard the autonomous, self-sufficient reasoner--where "reason" means something like "able to give a logically defensible verbal justification," usually in terms of some sort of universal rule. MacIntyre sees this as a mistake. The question, he thinks, is how any of us ever come to be independent practical reasoners and what it means to be such. We must, he thinks, understand that "reasons to act" have little to do with our linguistic ability or capacity to display verbally a syllogism that concludes with the action in question. Rather, "reasons to act" are more concrete, pragmatic, and instrumental.
Thus, we can say that intelligent animals act with reasons, despite having no language, if their actions are clearly aimed at ends, especially if it is clear that they choose their instrumental acts on the basis of perceptions of the current environment.

*Human practical resoning* begins in this aspect of our animal nature--our ability to learn in practice what we need to do in order to accomplish the things we need to accomplish if we are to flourish. Note that the issue here is learning in practice, and identifying correctly through our practice what we find to be needful for our flourishing. Reason, then, is grounded in the practice of flourishing.

And rather than look at "autonomous" adults, MacIntyre points out the obvious fact, usually overlooked by ethical theorists, that we are actually always dependent on each other in myriad ways. Our mutual dependency dictates that we need communities of giving and receiving various things--including education, formal and otherwise--not only to flourish but to be able to know, and reason, about flourishing. Without the virtues, the conditions for practical reasoning *at all* cannot exist.

The argument, then, is that our animality and dependency dictate what constitutes both flourishing and practical reason about flourishing, and that we can demonstrate that the virtues are necessary for being independent practical reasoners who flourish.

Rather, that's the strategy of the argument. The argument itself is, of course, much more involved. In its entirety, does it work? I'm not sure. I don''t know that everyone would agree with his axiomatic/unargued starting point, that to flourish requires us to be independent rational thinkers, even in the sense of "rational" he's spelled out here. We of democratic mien see thing that way, of course--but so far as I know, MacIntyre doesn't provide an argument for the overriding necessity of independence.

A couple of things are troubling--his apparent reliance on D.W. Winnicott's psychoanalytic account of child development, for instance. I'm not sure whether it really matters--so long as one accepts the notion that persons cannot develop into independent rational thinkers without the support of others, MacIntyre's affinity for Winnicott can be seen as a personal quirk, I think.

But that does lead to one perplexity: a lot of what MacIntyre says about the necessities of human life--matters of our dependence--is empirical, in a fairly straightforward sense, more than philosophical. Does this matter? It seems so to me. At least some of his argument turns on empirical claims about conditions for human flourishing for which he provides no argument or evidence.

Finally, MacIntyre sees current society as more or less beyond the pale ethically--according to him, neither our families nor our nation states promote virtue or independent practical rationality of the sort he has spelled out. One could conclude, of course, that we live in vicious ands heathen times, so to speak--and perhaps we do. Or one could wonder whether MacIntyre's empirical claims, and the philosophical argument he bases upon them, may not have more to do with his tastes than with the conditions of human flourishing. Is it really so obvious that in our culture we fail to flourish? Taken from the perspective of human history, our developed nation states have a few things going for them that resemble flourishing: the highest levels of material welfare, more equitably spread (in spite of the great distance we have to go in achieving equality); the most widespread education and highest rates of literacy; the lowest rates of infant mortality; the longest life spans; the greatest emphasis on human rights, including for women and minoeriites; the easiest access by non-elites to the arts; the cheapest books (relative to per capita income); the most efficient (if not yet ideal) institutions for international consultation and cooperation, and . . .

I like MacIntyre''s version of how life ought to be. I recommend reading the book. But I suggest that one not fail to note that his empirical claims are less than obviously true, while some empirical facts about our flourishing seem to have escaped his notice--or at least been given less weight than many folks would give them.

One other thing: This book is badly written. Never mind the needlessly poor sentence structure in which he so often indulges (and he obviously knows better, since he often writes clearly). But the structure of the argument and its exposition is generally less than transparent. (The reviewer who thought first that MacIntyre had gone soft reflects this fact.) For instance, on page 107, he tells us there are two ways that a certain thing is important, then spends twelve pages discussing the first--without ever getting around to identifying the second, so far as I can discern. That sort of sloppiness is not unusual in the book. Do you think maybe one of the minor virtues, one of the small obligations owed by people who write books for which they ask our money, is that they not be lazy about how they express themselves?

Okay, so I was wrong.......2001-02-20

Has MacIntyre gone soft?.......2000-03-16

MacIntyre's project is starting to produce results........1999-06-29

_Dependent Rational Animals_ presents a positive account of practical rationality against the background of an understanding of human nature on which we are first of all animals -- and thus always vulnerable -- and often (some of us always) disabled. This leads MacIntyre to distinguish what he calls the "virtues of acknowledged dependence" from the more widely recognized "virtues of independent practical reasoners".

This book, an expanded series of lectures, is quite easy to read, especially when it focuses on such lively questions as whether dolphins and chimpanzees have beliefs and intentions, or why we have obligations to those thoroughly dependent human beings who will never develop into autonomous agents.

I've long thought _After Virtue_ was the best introduction to MacIntyre, but I now suspect _Dependent Rational Animals_ may be the way to go. That way, one can begin with his positive account, and locate the critique in relation to it.

Average customer rating: Excellent introduction A Book on Moral Philosophy A Short History of Ethics. The mighty mountain gave birth to a little mouse. Serious shortcomings

A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century Alasdair C. MacIntyre Manufacturer: University of Notre Dame Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback History | Subjects | Books | Africa | Americas | Ancient | Arctic & Antarctica | Asia | Australia & Oceania | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Europe | Gay & Lesbian | Historical Study | Large Print | Middle East | Military | Military Science | Russia | United States | World Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Second Edition Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues Philosophical Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy ASIN: 026801759X

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"The second edition of this classic will be more widely read than the first, one expects, if only because in the intervening three decades the author has become perhaps the most important moral philosopher in the English-speaking world." —First Things

"This brilliant and provocative book is not so much a history of ethics as it is an essay about the history of ethics, with numerous examples. . . ." —Philosophical Review

". . . MacIntyre is always provocative, and this book will continue to excite engagement with fundamental moral issues." —Choice

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Excellent introduction.......2007-01-29

A Book on Moral Philosophy.......2006-01-24

A Short History of Ethics........2005-10-11

The mighty mountain gave birth to a little mouse. .......2005-03-25

Serious shortcomings.......2003-11-08

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Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays Alasdair MacIntyre Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Reference | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922 Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues Alasdair MacIntyre (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus) The Unconscious: A Conceptual Analysis ASIN: 0521854385

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Average customer rating: Comments by a satisfied reader Clarity for Morality The Pursuit of Happiness A brief but lucid presentation

Morality: The Catholic View Servais Pinckaers Manufacturer: St. Augustine's Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Roman Catholicism | Catholicism | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Catholic | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Ethics | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Pastoral Theology | Theology | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Similar Items: The Sources of Christian Ethics The Pursuit of Happiness-God's Way: Living the Beatitudes The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Thomistic Moral Theology Jesus of Nazareth The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays ASIN: 1587315157

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Comments by a satisfied reader.......2007-02-03

Clarity for Morality.......2004-12-22

The Pursuit of Happiness.......2002-10-01

According to Pinckaers, a better, more classical, and more Thomistic approach is to consider human freedom as part of human nature, rooted in and ineradicably woven among our yearnings for the good, the beautiful, and the true. Thus the best use of our freedom is virtue, which is not only compatible with happiness but in its highest form (i.e., love) is the source of joy.

Pinckaers' analysis of the fundamental flaw of modernist ethics is penetrating and, in my view, probably correct. The concept of human nature presented here is a high one, and may strike some as too exalted. But that's the point. Catholic morality looks to humanity as it was intended to be, and as it can be when redeemed by grace.

A brief but lucid presentation.......2002-08-27

The book is divided into two parts : a survey of the sources of Christian ethics, and a proposal for renewing our moral thought by a return to the classical and mediaeval models. Thus he discusses the sources for ethical reflection in the Gospels and the other New Testament documents (notably the Sermon on the Mount), then relates how these ideas were grafted onto the Greek philosophical tradition by the mediaevel thinkers. He dwells at (comparative) length on the structure of ethics as it was conceived by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century; namely, morality is a search for human happiness and fulfillment. He then relates how this ancient ethical tradition was undermined in the late mediaeval period (it is William of Ockham who gets the lion's share of the blame), and how a new conception of Christian ethics as "ethics of obligation" came to dominate in the post-Reformation period. Finally, he discusses the impact of the Vatican II on Catholic moral reflection, in which he sees hope for a return to the ancient model.

The second part of the book is a reflection on how ethics might be reconceived in the image of Aquinas' ethics. In particular, he argues that our notion of freedom has to be fundamentally changed if we are to refound moral thought, for the dominant notion of freedom in modern times - what he calls 'freedom of indifference' - is at the root of the chaotic state of morality in western society. In opposition to the prevalent idea of freedom as the ability to choose without bias between contraries, he advocates 'freedom for excellence', which is the ability to act with excellence in whatever one chooses. His discussion of this issue is the best and clearest that I have encountered.
He goes on to a number of other topics, including the relationship of freedom and natural law, and the specifically Christian understanding of morals in relation to the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit.

I recommend this book to anyone who is discouraged with the present cacophonous state of moral discourse in terms of restrictions, rebellion, and rights; to students of intellectual history who want to better understand the nature of the break modernity has made with the Greeks and mediaevals; to those who are curious about the Catholic view of morality. Readers of Alasdair MacIntyre (who contributes the introduction to this book) and Josef Pieper should find much to enjoy.

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Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity (Modern European Philosophy) Gary Gutting Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books History & Surveys | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Pragmatism | Movements | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Truth: A Guide ASIN: 0521649730

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Average customer rating: Lucid Presentation of MacIntyre

The Macintyre Reader Alasdair C. MacIntyre , and Kelvin Knight Manufacturer: University of Notre Dame Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Ethics and Politics: Selected Essays Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition The Tasks of Philosophy: Selected Essays Whose Justice? Which Rationality? ASIN: 026801437X

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Lucid Presentation of MacIntyre.......2000-08-05

Average customer rating: Indispensible Classic For Students of Moral Philosophy Fascinating and difficult Great for those with adequate background MacIntyre, Alasdair MacIntyre, Alasdair

A Short History of Ethics Alasdair MacIntyre Manufacturer: Routledge ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: How Are We to Live?: Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Second Edition ASIN: 0415040272 Release Date: 1990-12-01

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Indispensible Classic For Students of Moral Philosophy.......2004-02-27

MacIntyre is strong on the Greeks. His sections on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and the development of Greek moral thought fill the first 100 pages. Socrates' basic teachings are examined, and while MacIntyre is a bit too materialistic to really "get" Plato, he details the main strokes well, in a fairly thorough discussion of The Republic. His examination of Aristotle's moral theory is enlightening, one of the best available in brief.
The middle of the book deftly deals with the impact of Christian moral thought (see Max Weber for more), the development of early modernity (good on Hobbes; interesting on Spinoza), further developments in 18th century France and Britain (if you've ever wanted to know how the ideas of Locke, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, Hutchinson, Bishop Butler, Paley, Price, Reed, and Hume, et al. fit together in less than ten pages, look no further). Hume is discussed more deeply in other books of this sort (see Norman "The Moral Philosophers"). The discussion is followed by excellent summaries of Montesquieu and Rousseau. (For some reason Montaigne is ignored along with the rest of late 16th and early 17th century French thought).
Then comes what, in my opinion, is the gem of the book, his analysis of Kant. The final claim in the chapter, that the arbitrary nature ("the logical emptiness") of Kant's categorical imperative ironically did far more than any other philosophic claims to prepare the German psyche to rationalize the acceptance of totalitarian National Socialism, albeit controversial, deserves careful perusal.
The final third of the book includes informative sections on Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche (R. Soloman and K. Higgins are better in the brief style format on Nietzsche), Utilitarianism (R. Norman is stronger on Mill, but MacIntyre is sfficient) and ends about halfway through the 20th century, mostly discussing developments in British moral philosophy (Moore, et al). There's a few pages on Sarte (not nearly enough), Dewey, and less known figures such as Stevenson. All in all, better buy a seperate book which deals with this turbulant century all by itself. MacIntyre, however, provides enough of an intro.
The book is excellent in showing the interrelation and development of the most stimulating ideas which have arisen in Europe over two-and a-half thousand years in regard to how we ought to live, how we do, and the whys and wherefores of most of what matters most in philosophy.

Fascinating and difficult.......2003-09-16

Great for those with adequate background.......2003-02-04

Beginners will find this a difficult book to work through. MacIntyre presumes the reader has a basic understanding of the ideas and philosophers he discusses.

But for those with adequate background this is a wonderful book, full of many insights. Be warned, though, this book is not a neutral review of the subject matter. In this book MacIntyre lays the groundwork for his own particular version of ethics (developed most fully in After Virtue).

Much of the book is dense and part of it is, arguably, poorly written. But it is worth the work needed to get through it.

MacIntyre, Alasdair.......1999-05-14

MacIntyre, Alasdair.......1999-05-14

Philosophers:

1. Marcel, Gabriel
2. Marcus Aurelius
3. Marcuse, Herbert
4. Marx, Karl
5. Meinong, Alexius
6. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice
7. Mill, John Stuart
8. Moore, G.E.
9. More, Sir Thomas
10. Nelson, Leonard

Philosophers

Philosophers