Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: After virtue: A study in moral theory by Alasdair C MacIntyre ISBN: 0-268-00594-X Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Pub. Date: 1981 Format: Unknown Binding |
Average Customer Rating: 4.48 (21 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A necessary read for anyone interested in ethics
Comment: In this work Alasdair MacIntyre argues that morality as we currently understand it has suffered a great disaster. As a result of the Enlightenment project's failed attempt to justify morality on its own terms, as MacIntyre argues, we are left with nothing more than shards of a once complete and coherent moral tradition. As a result the current state of morality is a form of emotivism, according to MacIntyre. MacIntyre's argument comes to a head when, in ch. 9, he claims that we must either go the way of Nietzsche's critique of morality or opt for a reworked version of Aristotle's ethics in which our moral claims can be justified.
This work is, in part, resoponsible for the renewed interest in virtue ethics among contemoporary moral philosophers. Regardless of whether one ultimately affirms or denies MacIntyre's conclusions this work is necessary reading for anyone who wishes to keep informed of current debates in moral philosophy.
Along these same lines I would recommend MacIntyre's other works which include Three Rival Versions and Whose Justice? Which Rationality? as well as Bernard Williams' Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, and John Rawls' Political Liberalism.
Rating: 5
Summary: a wonderful introduction
Comment: The other reviewers have grabbed exactly what MacIntyre was getting at, if one combines their comments. It is certainly true that MacIntyre wishes to "skewer" the major moral philosophies of the modern day. This is absolutely necessary for his project. If he wishes to re-establish Aristotelian moral philosophy, he must first discredit those philosophies that have tried to destroy Aristotelianism. He does an excellent job, which is why After Virtue sparked so much debate. This book is a wonderful introduction to MacIntyre's thought, and is complemented by his Short History of Ethics (get the second edition). Any lover of Aristotle will be thrilled, and those who don't will be somewhat frightened and forced to re-think their positions.
Rating: 5
Summary: It comes down to Aristotle or Nietsche
Comment: Writing polemics in support of virtue became something of a cottage industry in the '90's. This is one of the texts that drove that trend. Fortunately, its tone is not polemical in the slightest. MacIntyre's argument is measured and well-reasoned, and he gives several useful concepts for addressing moral issues, e.g., institutional *practices* that provide internal rather than external goods, and narratives and stories as constitutive of human existence.
It's an involved argument, and at least partly relies upon a reading of intellectual history for its strength. For MacIntyre, upon investigation there are only two consistent moral viewpoints: one associated with Aristotle that views morality as objectively valid and rational because it's based on a natural teleology and sees that morality exercised through the development of virtues and intricately entwined with them, another, based upon Nietsche, which sees morality only as a mask for irrational power.
Lucid and well-written. Highly recommended.
 |
Title: Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre ISBN: 0268019444 Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
 |
Title: A Short History of Ethics: A History of Moral Philosophy from the Homeric Age to the Twentieth Century by Alasdair MacIntyre ISBN: 026801759X Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition by Alasdair MacIntyre ISBN: 0268018774 Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1991 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues by Alasdair MacIntyre ISBN: 081269452X Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company Pub. Date: 09 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity by Charles Taylor ISBN: 0674824261 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1992 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
