Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T17:20:41.698Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

MacIntyrean Ethics and Lessons About Teleological Ethical Theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2025

Edmund Wall Open the ORCID record for Edmund Wall [Opens in a new window]
Edmund Wall*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, United States
*
Email: walle@ecu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Alasdair MacIntyre’s moral approach is ranked among the very important formulations in contemporary philosophical ethics. Yet, MacIntyre and his commentators have overlooked basic requirements of teleological ethical theories (end- or goal-oriented ethical theories). In the article, we will see just where MacIntyre has erred in constructing his Aristotelian-Thomist teleological moral approach, the most fundamental error being his failure to pursue and develop ultimate ends. MacIntyre’s moral approach, which heroically attempts to combine basic ancient and medieval foundational elements while assigning social practices a prominent role in shaping moral thinking, fails to provide a determinate teleological justificatory foundation.

Résumé

Résumé

L’approche morale d’Alasdair MacIntyre est classée parmi les formulations très importantes de l’éthique philosophique contemporaine. Pourtant, MacIntyre et ses commentateurs ont négligé les exigences fondamentales des théories éthiques téléologiques (théories éthiques orientées vers une fin ou un but). Dans cet article, nous verrons exactement où MacIntyre a commis une erreur dans la construction de son approche morale téléologique aristotélicienne-thomiste, l’erreur la plus fondamentale étant son incapacité à poursuivre et à développer des fins ultimes. L’approche morale de MacIntyre, qui tente héroïquement de combiner des éléments fondamentaux antiques et médiévaux tout en attribuant aux pratiques sociales un rôle de premier plan dans la formation de la pensée morale, ne parvient pas à fournir un fondement téléologique justificatif déterminé.

Keywords

Aquinas’s ethicsAristotle’s ethicsMacIntyre’s moral approachteleological ethical theoriesultimate ends
Type
Article
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , First View , pp. 1 - 25
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Canadian Philosophical Association/Publié par Cambridge University Press au nom de l’Association canadienne de philosophie

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackrill, J. L. (1980). Aristotle on eudaimonia. In Rorty, A. O. (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 15–33). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520340985-005 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958). Modern moral philosophy. Philosophy, 33(124), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031819100037943 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aquinas, T. (n.d.). Commentary on the first epistle to the Corinthians (F. Larcher, O. P., Trans.). Isodore.Google Scholar
Aquinas, T. (1975). Summa contra gentiles: Book one: God (Pegis, A. C., Trans.). University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Aquinas, T. (2017). Summa theologiae (2nd and revised ed.) (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans.). New Advent.Google Scholar
Aristotle. (2001a). On the soul (Smith, J. A., Trans.). In McKeon, R. (Ed.), The basic works of Aristotle (pp. 533–603). The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Aristotle. (2001b). Metaphysics (Ross, W. D., Trans.). In McKeon, R. (Ed.), The basic works of Aristotle (pp. 681–926). The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Aristotle. (2001c). Nicomachean ethics (Ross, W. D., Trans.). In McKeon, R. (Ed.), The basic works of Aristotle (pp. 927–1112). The Modern Library.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackledge, P. (2020). Alasdair MacIntyre’s Aristotelianism. In Bielskis, A., Leontsini, E., & Knight, K. (Eds.), Virtue ethics and contemporary Aristotelianism: Modernity, conflict and politics (pp. 222–235). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350122208.0021 Google Scholar
Bobik, J. (1965). Aquinas on being and essence: A translation and interpretation. University of Notre Dame Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpj7dxh Google Scholar
Copleston, F. C. (1955). Aquinas. Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Depew, D. J. (1991). Politics, music, and contemplation in Aristotle’s ideal state. In Keyt, D. & Miller, F. D. Jr. (Eds.), A companion to Aristotle’s politics (pp. 346–380). Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Empedocles. (2000). Empedocles of Acragas. In Waterfield, R. (Ed., Trans.), The first philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists (pp. 133–163). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1975). The Greek philosophers: From Thales to Aristotle. Harper Torchbooks.Google Scholar
Hardie, W. F. R. (1980). Aristotle’s ethical theory (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198246329.001.0001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, K. (2007). Aristotelian philosophy: Ethics and politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre. Polity Press.Google Scholar
Kraut, R. (1989). Aristotle on the human good. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691225128 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lutz, C. S. (2004). Tradition in the ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre: Relativism, Thomism, and philosophy. Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Lutz, C. S. (2012). Reading Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue. Continuum International Publishing Group.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (1984/2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory (2nd and 3rd eds.). University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (1988). Whose Justice? Which Rationality? University of Notre Dame Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1bvnf11 Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (1992). Plain persons and moral philosophy: Rules, virtues and goods. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 66(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.5840/acpq199266144 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (1999). Dependent rational animals: Why human beings need the virtues. Open Court.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2006a). First principles, final ends, and contemporary philosophical issues. In MacIntyre, A. (Ed.), The tasks of philosophy: Selected essays (Vol. 1, pp. 143–178). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511819797.009 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2006b). Philosophy recalled to its tasks: A Thomistic reading of Fides et Ratio . In MacIntyre, A. (Ed.), The tasks of philosophy: Selected essays (Vol. 1, pp. 179–196). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511819797.010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2006c). Rival Aristotles: Aristotle against some modern Aristotelians. In MacIntyre, A. (Ed.), Ethics and politics: Selected essays (Vol. 2, pp. 22–40). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511606670.003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2009). Intractable moral disagreements. In Cunningham, L. S. (Ed.), Intractable disputes about the natural law: Alasdair MacIntyre and critics (pp. 1–52). University of Notre Dame Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv14rms3x.5 Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2014). Ends and endings. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 88(4), 807–821. https://doi.org/10.5840/acpq201491528 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (2016). Ethics in the conflicts of modernity: An essay on desire, practical reasoning, and narrative. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316816967 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, H. (1976). The immortality of the soul. In Kenny, A. (Ed.), Aquinas: A collection of critical essays (pp. 297–306). University of Notre Dame Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15356-5_13 Google Scholar
McInerny, R. (1992). Aquinas on human action: A theory of practice. Catholic University of America Press.Google Scholar
Nagel, T. (1980). Aristotle on eudaimonia . In Rorty, A. O. (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 7–14). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520340985-004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nietzsche, F. (1913). The genealogy of morals (Samuel, H. B., Trans.). T. N. Foulis.Google Scholar
Rorty, A. O. (1980). The place of contemplation in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. In Rorty, A. O. (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 377–394). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520340985-023 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, D. (1995). Aristotle (6th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203379530 Google Scholar
Shields, C. (2024). Aristotle’s psychology: The active mind of De Anima iii 5. In Zalta, E. N (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2020 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-psychology/active-mind.html Google Scholar
Wilkes, K. V. (1980). The good man and the good for man in Aristotle’s ethics. In Rorty, A. O. (Ed.), Essays on Aristotle’s ethics (pp. 341–357). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520340985-021 CrossRefGoogle Scholar