Alasdair MacIntyre

1. MacIntyre's critique of modernity and the fragmentation of moral discourse

"To a large degree moral philosophy, as it is now understood, reflects the condition of moral judgement in the culture of bureaucratic individualism."

Moral incoherence. MacIntyre argues that modern moral discourse has become incoherent due to the loss of a shared ethical framework. This fragmentation is a result of the Enlightenment's failure to provide a rational foundation for morality, leading to emotivism – the view that moral judgments are mere expressions of personal preference.

Bureaucratic individualism. The author contends that our current social order, characterized by bureaucratic structures and individualistic values, perpetuates this moral incoherence. This has led to a culture where moral arguments are often reduced to rhetorical manipulations rather than substantive debates about the good life.

2. The historical roots of moral philosophy's current predicament

"It was a matter of many different changes gradually acquiring a cumulative effect, so that the nature of those changes only became apparent retrospectively."

The Enlightenment project. MacIntyre traces the roots of our current moral predicament to the Enlightenment's attempt to justify morality on rational grounds alone. This project, he argues, was doomed to fail because it rejected the teleological framework that had previously given moral concepts their meaning and coherence.

Loss of context. The author demonstrates how the rejection of Aristotelian and Christian teleology led to a view of human nature as fixed and amoral, divorced from any conception of human flourishing. This separation of facts from values has resulted in moral philosophy's inability to resolve fundamental ethical disagreements.

3. The importance of practices, traditions, and narratives in moral reasoning

"I am born with a past, and to try to cut myself off from the past, in the individualist mode, is to deform my present relationships."

Embedded reasoning. MacIntyre argues that moral reasoning can only be coherent within the context of social practices, traditions, and narratives. These provide the necessary background for understanding and evaluating moral claims.

Narrative unity. The author emphasizes the importance of narrative in giving coherence to individual lives and moral judgments. He contends that we can only make sense of our moral choices within the context of our life stories and the larger narratives of our communities.

• Practices: Socially established cooperative activities with internal standards of excellence
• Traditions: Ongoing debates about the goods that define those practices
• Narratives: The stories we tell to make sense of our lives and moral choices

4. MacIntyre's concept of virtue ethics and its relevance to contemporary society

"The virtues are those goods by reference to which, whether we like it or not, we define our relationships to those people with whom we share the kind of purposes and standards which inform practices."

Virtue redefined. MacIntyre revives the Aristotelian concept of virtue, defining it as an acquired human quality that enables us to achieve the internal goods of practices. This contrasts with modern conceptions of virtue as mere adherence to rules or maximization of utility.

Social context. The author argues that virtues can only be fully understood and cultivated within specific social contexts and practices. This view challenges the individualistic assumptions of much modern moral philosophy and suggests a more communitarian approach to ethics.

• Key virtues in MacIntyre's framework:
  • Justice
  • Courage
  • Truthfulness
  • Practical wisdom (phronesis)

5. The crisis of authority in market-based societies and its implications

"What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us."

Market dominance. MacIntyre argues that market-based societies have undermined traditional sources of moral authority, leading to a crisis in which no shared conception of the common good can be articulated or pursued.

Fragmentation of values. The author contends that the dominance of market logic has led to the fragmentation of values and the prioritization of external goods (e.g., wealth, status) over internal goods (e.g., excellence in practices, moral character). This has resulted in a society that lacks the resources to address its most pressing moral and political challenges.

6. The role of managers and social sciences in perpetuating bureaucratic individualism

"The manager represents in his character the obliteration of the distinction between manipulative and non-manipulative social relations."

Managerial ideology. MacIntyre critiques the role of managers in modern organizations, arguing that their claim to moral neutrality and technical expertise masks the exercise of arbitrary power and the manipulation of human beings.

Social science critique. The author extends this critique to the social sciences, arguing that their aspiration to value-neutral, predictive knowledge serves to legitimize managerial authority and perpetuate the fragmentation of moral discourse.

• Key aspects of managerial ideology:
  • Claims to moral neutrality
  • Emphasis on efficiency and effectiveness
  • Reliance on social scientific expertise

7. The possibility of reviving communitarian values in a post-virtue world

"The good life for man is the life spent in seeking for the good life for man, and the virtues necessary for the seeking are those which will enable us to understand what more and what else the good life for man is."

Local communities. MacIntyre argues for the cultivation of local forms of community as sites of resistance to the corrosive effects of bureaucratic individualism. These communities would be grounded in shared practices and traditions that sustain a coherent conception of the good life.

Reviving tradition. The author suggests that we need to recover and reinterpret elements of pre-modern ethical traditions, particularly Aristotelianism, to address the moral and political challenges of our time. This would involve a renewed emphasis on virtue, practical wisdom, and the pursuit of common goods.

• Potential sites for communitarian revival:
  • Educational institutions
  • Religious communities
  • Local political organizations
  • Worker-owned cooperatives

Last updated: August 9, 2024