Ideas of Alasdair MacIntyre, by Theme

[British, b.1929, Professor at Duke University, North Carolina.]

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1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 4. Early European Thought

8013	In the Reformation, morality became unconditional but irrational, individually autonomous, and secular

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 5. Later European Thought

8021	The Levellers and the Diggers mark a turning point in the history of morality

8060	In the 17th-18th centuries morality offered a cure for egoism, through altruism

1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 6. Twentieth Century Thought

8053	Twentieth century social life is re-enacting eighteenth century philosophy

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

8047	Philosophy has been marginalised by its failure in the Enlightenment to replace religion

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 9. Limits of Reason

8062	Proof is a barren idea in philosophy, and the best philosophy never involves proof

12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique

8052	To find empiricism and science in the same culture is surprising, as they are really incompatible

13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 4. Cultural relativism

10356

Relativism can be seen as about the rationality of different cultural traditions [Kusch]

14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 4. Prediction

8057	Unpredictability doesn't entail inexplicability, and predictability doesn't entail explicability

14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 1. Scientific Theory

8054	Social sciences discover no law-like generalisations, and tend to ignore counterexamples

15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche

8006	When Aristotle speaks of soul he means something like personality

16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 3. Narrative Self

21050

I can only make decisions if I see myself as part of a story

18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 6. Artificial Thought / a. Artificial Intelligence

8056	AI can't predict innovation, or consequences, or external relations, or external events

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / c. Purpose of ethics

8059	The good life for man is the life spent seeking the good life for man

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / d. Ethical theory

8034	We still have the appearance and language of morality, but we no longer understand it

8036	Unlike expressions of personal preference, evaluative expressions do not depend on context

8049	Moral judgements now are anachronisms from a theistic age

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / b. Rational ethics

8045	The failure of Enlightenment attempts to justify morality will explain our own culture

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism

8051	Mention of 'intuition' in morality means something has gone wrong with the argument

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature

8048	When 'man' is thought of individually, apart from all roles, it ceases to be a functional concept

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / h. Expressivism

8035	In trying to explain the type of approval involved, emotivists are either silent, or viciously circular

8037	The expression of feeling in a sentence is in its use, not in its meaning

8040	Emotivism cannot explain the logical terms in moral discourse ('therefore', 'if..then')

8042	Nowadays most people are emotivists, and it is embodied in our culture

22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / j. Ethics by convention

8002	Sophists don't distinguish a person outside one social order from someone outside all order

22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / b. Fact and value

8012	The value/fact logical gulf is misleading, because social facts involve values

22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / b. Eudaimonia

8005	'Happiness' is a bad translation of 'eudaimonia', which includes both behaving and faring well

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue

8058	Maybe we can only understand rules if we first understand the virtues

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique

7097	Virtue is secondary to a role-figure, defined within a culture [Statman]

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character

8043	Characters are the masks worn by moral philosophies

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / h. Right feelings

8061	If morality just is emotion, there are no external criteria for judging emotions

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice

8001	'Dikaiosune' is justice, but also fairness and personal integrity

23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 2. Duty

8023	My duties depend on my identity, which depends on my social relations

23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism

8038	Since Moore thinks the right action produces the most good, he is a utilitarian

24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / a. Natural freedom

8022	I am naturally free if I am not tied to anyone by a contract

24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights

8050	There are no natural or human rights, and belief in them is nonsense

24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / g. Liberalism critique

23080

Liberals debate how conservative or radical to be, but don't question their basics

25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights

8031	Fans of natural rights or laws can't agree on what the actual rights or laws are

28. God / A. Divine Nature / 4. Divine Contradictions

8055	If God is omniscient, he confronts no as yet unmade decisions, so decisions are impossible

29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 5. Bible

8008	The Bible is a story about God in which humans are incidental characters