Alasdair Macintyre: An — Intellectual Biography (...

In the years following After Virtue , MacIntyre’s project evolved into a sophisticated defense of tradition-constituted inquiry. In Whose Justice? Which Rationality? (1988) and Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry (1990), he argued that there is no such thing as "rationality as such." Instead, there are only rationalities embedded within specific historical traditions, such as the Aristotelian, the Augustinian, or the Enlightenment tradition. MacIntyre argued that traditions can rationally evaluate one another by their ability to solve their own internal crises and accommodate the insights of rival traditions. It was during this period that MacIntyre fully embraced the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, finding in Thomism the most complete synthesis of Aristotelian metaphysics and Christian theology.

The culmination of this search arrived in 1981 with the publication of his masterpiece, After Virtue . In this seminal work, MacIntyre advanced a startling thesis: the language of contemporary morality is in a state of grave disorder. He argued that the "Enlightenment project" to find an independent, rational justification for morality had failed. This failure resulted in "emotivism," the doctrine that all moral judgments are nothing but expressions of preference or feeling. To remedy this crisis, MacIntyre proposed a return to the Aristotelian tradition of the virtues. He argued that human life must be understood teleologically—directed toward an ultimate good—and that virtues are those acquired dispositions necessary to achieve that good within the context of practices and a unified narrative of a human life. Alasdair MacIntyre: An Intellectual Biography (...

MacIntyre’s early academic career was marked by a deep engagement with both Christian theology and Marxist social theory. Educated at Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Manchester, he began his career at a time when British philosophy was dominated by logical positivism and linguistic analysis. MacIntyre quickly grew dissatisfied with these approaches, viewing them as detached from the pressing moral and political questions of human life. In his early works, such as Marxism: An Interpretation (1953) and New Essays in Philosophical Theology (1955), he attempted to find a synthesis between the prophetic moral critique of Marxism and the theological understanding of human nature. This period reflects his enduring concern with the social conditions necessary for moral agency and his rejection of any philosophy that treats moral concepts as abstract, ahistorical truths. In the years following After Virtue , MacIntyre’s