| Alasdair Macintyre |
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BIOGRAPHY MacIntyre was educated at the institution now known as Queen Mary, University Of London , and has a Master of Arts from the University Of Manchester . He began his lecturing career in 1951 at Manchester University. He taught at the University Of Leeds , the University Of Essex and the University Of Oxford in the United Kingdom , before moving to the USA in around 1969 . MacIntyre has been something of an intellectual nomad, having taught at many universities in the US. He has held the following positions:
He has also been a visiting professor at Princeton University , and is a former president of the American Philosophical Association . From 2000 to 2007 , he has been the Rev. John A. O'Brien Senior Research Professor and the Permanent Senior Research Fellow at the University Of Notre Dame , Indiana USA . He is also Professor Emerit and Emeritus at Duke University . In April 2005 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society . He has been married 3 times. From 1953 to 1963 he was married to Ann Peri, with whom he had two daughters. From 1963 to 1977 he was married to Susan Willans, with whom he had a son and daughter. Since 1977 he has been married to philosopher Lynn Joy, who is also on the Philosophy faculty at Notre Dame . PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD Whereas many contemporary philosophers advance philosophical positions by focusing on the logical, analytical or scientific underpinnings, MacIntyre uses Dialectic in order to present a historical narration of the development of ethics in order to illuminate the modern problem of ''incommensurable'' moral notions used independently of their original conceptual frameworks. He does not attempt to resolve the resulting conceptual conflicts. Instead, he argues for one moral tradition against its rivals. This tradition, he proposes, presents 'the best theory so far', both of how things are and of how we ought to act. It is the tradition of Thomistic Aristotelianism . VIRTUE ETHICS MacIntyre is a key figure in the recent surge of interest in Virtue Ethics , which identifies the central question of Morality as having to do with the habits, virtues and knowledges concerning how one should live one's life. This approach has a greater scope than others. MacIntyre and his supporters focus on moral problems having to do with how to make the most of an entire human life, whereas most others often focus on such specific ethical debates such as abortion, homosexual rights, etc. MacIntyre is not silent on such matters, but he approaches them from a wider context and less rule-based standard. This is an approach to Moral Philosophy that demonstrates how good Judgment of individuals emanates from the development of good Character . The underlying standards are grasped not through what a virtuous person "decides" but rather through the virtues of life that enable moral action to be both directed to its correct ends and consonant within its moral rationality. For example, it's impractical to say that wine X is the best wine on earth but there is wisdom in saying that person W is well known and widely respected for his/her views on wine and if he/she says wines 1, 2, and 3 are fantastic, chances are great that they are. This is a simplistic example to highlight only that judgements of virtuous persons in determining what is good or evil, right or wrong are more important than formal rules. In elaborating this approach, MacIntyre understands himself to be reworking the Aristotelian idea of an ethical Teleology . MacIntyre emphasises the importance of moral goods defined in respect to a community of virtuous persons engaged in a ' Practice ' - which he calls 'internal goods' or 'goods of excellence' - rather than focusing on practice-independent phenomena such as the Obligation of a moral agent ( Deontological Ethics ) or on the Consequences of a particular moral act ( Utilitarianism ). Virtue ethics in European/American academia is associated with pre-modern philosophers (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas), but also fully engaged with other forms of modern ethical systems (e.g. Kantian deontology). MacIntyre has argued that Aquinas ' synthesis of Augustinianism with Aristotelianism is more insightful than modern moral theories by focusing upon the telos ('end', or completion) of a social practice and of a human life, within the context of which the morality of acts may be evaluated. After all of this has been said, it should be emphasized that MacIntyre intends the idea of virtue to supplement rather than replace moral rules. Indeed, he describes certain moral rules as 'exceptionless' or unconditional. POLITICS Politically, MacIntyre's ethics informs a defence of the goods of excellence internal to practices against the pursuit of 'external goods', such as money, power and status, that are characteristically pursued by rule-based state and corporate institutions. He has been described as a 'revolutionary Aristotelian '. This is because of his attempt to combine insights from Marx with those of Aquinas and Aristotle . Marxism gives us no moral theory but it does give us an economic and political theory that has always informed MacIntyre's critique of liberalism, which Marxists regard as capitalist ideology. MacIntyre replaces the language of ideology with that of tradition. Like most Western Marxists, he regards ideas not as simple effects of productive relations but, rather, as affecting how people act. He argues that liberalism, like postmodernist consumerism, not only justifies capitalism but really sustains and informs it over the long term. RELIGION MacIntyre converted to Roman Catholicism in the early 1980s, and "now does his work against the background of what he calls an Augustinian Thomist approach to moral philosophy." Solomon, David. "Lecture 9: After Virtue", International Catholic University: Twentieth-century ethics {Link without Title} SELECTED WORKS
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