Alasdair MacIntyre
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a notable analytic philosopher born in 1929 in Glasgow, Scotland. He has had a distinguished academic career, teaching at various British universities before relocating to the United States in the late 1960s, where he has held positions at institutions such as Notre Dame and Duke University. MacIntyre’s philosophical work primarily addresses moral and political philosophy, critiquing the failures of the Enlightenment and modern nihilistic responses to it. His influential 1981 book, *After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory*, argues that virtue is rooted in community and culture rather than solely in the individual, proposing that moral principles should reflect collective rational acceptance of what is good.
Throughout his career, MacIntyre has explored the interplay between individual identity and societal norms, emphasizing that morality arises from human history rather than inherent nature. His notable works include *Whose Justice? Which Rationality?* and *Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues*. A Roman Catholic since the 1980s, he seeks a synthesis of Aristotelian ethics with contemporary moral issues. Now Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, MacIntyre's contributions continue to influence debates in ethics and political philosophy, further highlighted by the intellectual biography published about him in 2022.
Alasdair MacIntyre
Philosopher
- Born: January 12, 1929
- Place of Birth: Glasgow, Scotland
Author Profile
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is an analytic philosopher born in 1929 in Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated from Queen Mary College, London, and earned master's degrees at Manchester University and Oxford University. He began teaching at British universities in the 1950s, with stints at Manchester, Leeds, Essex, and Oxford before moving to the United States in the late 1960s. He has taught at numerous US colleges and universities, including Brandeis, Boston University, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Duke. MacIntyre's work as a moral and political philosopher has focused on responses to what he sees as both the failures of the Enlightenment project and the nihilism of modern reactions to it from thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche. Initially a Marxist but a Roman Catholic since the 1980s, MacIntyre finds a more satisfactory approach in a return to Aristotelian ethics and the work of medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas.
MacIntyre's best-known work is his 1981 book After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. In it, MacIntyre analyzes theories of morality with regard to culture, and states that virtue is found within the community, in its ethos, or character, and not in the individual alone. He argues that the Enlightenment abandoned the belief in a divine origin of morality and overemphasized the individual. This leads, says MacIntyre, to a breakdown of the triad of ethics: “man-as-he-happens-to-be,” “man-as-he-would-be-if-he-realized-himself,” and a divine system of rules to be followed. Such grounding of morality in human nature can produce moral relativism. MacIntyre was looking for a balance between the utilitarian concept of morality as usefulness and the relativism of different social norms. This question of the individual and the society is addressed in MacIntyre’s 1966 book A Short History of Ethics, in which he asserts that morality emerges out of human history rather than out of human nature. This conception places ethical decisions beyond the limits of individuals. MacIntyre believes that valid moral principles reflect what rational people would accept collectively as good for the individual, regardless of the individual’s place in society.
Among MacIntyre's other well-known works were Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1988), Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry (1990), Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues (1999), and Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical Reasoning, and Narrative (2016). Since 2010, he has been the Rev. John A. O'Brien Senior Research Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He was also a past president of the American Philosophical Association, and a senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) in London.
MacIntyre was the subject of a 2005 book, published for the first time in English in 2022, entitled Alasdair MacIntyre: An Intellectual Biography. Written by Emile Perreau-Saussine and translated by Nathan Pinkoski, the book won the Philippe Habert Prize in 2005.
He was married to Notre Dame philosophy professor Lynn Joy and had four children from two previous marriages.
Bibliography
Ballard, Bruce. Understanding MacIntyre. Lanham: UP of America, 2000. Print.
Ballantoni, Lisa. Moral Progress: A Process Critique of MacIntyre. Albany: State U of New York P, 2000. Print.
Brophy, Christopher Justin. "Alasdair MacIntyre: An Intellectual Autobiography by Émile Perreau-Saussine and translated by Nathan J. Pinkoski." American Journal of Jurisprudence, vo. 68, no. 2, October 2023, Pages 171–175, doi.org/10.1093/ajj/auad006. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.
Engelhardt, H. Tristram, Jr., and Daniel Callahan, eds. Knowledge, Value, and Belief. Hastings: Hastings Center, 1977. Print.
Fuller, M. B. Making Sense of MacIntyre. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1998. Print.
Gunnemann, Jon P. “Habermas and MacIntyre on Moral Learning.” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics. Boston: Society of Christian Ethics, 1994. Print.
Gutting, Gary. Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity. New York: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.
Horton, John, and Susan Mendus, eds. After MacIntyre. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1994. Print.
Knight, Kevin. Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre. Malden: Polity, 2007. Print.
Lutz, Christopher Stephen. Reading Alasdair MacIntyre'sAfter Virtue. New York: Continuum, 2012. Print.
Lutz, Stephen. “Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (1929–)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, iep.utm.edu/mac-over/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.
McCann, Dennis P., and M. L. Brownsberger. “Management as a Social Practice: Rethinking Business Ethics after MacIntyre.” The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics. Knoxville: Society of Christian Ethics, 1990. Print.
McMylor, Peter. Alasdair MacIntyre: Critic of Modernity. London: Routledge, 1994. Print.
Sciallaba, George. "Liberalism’s Two Sides." The Nation, 15/22 May 2024, www.thenation.com/article/society/alasdair-macintyre-richard-rorty-liberalism/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.