Alasdair Macintyre

By AI Staff

Alasdair MacIntyre is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University. He is also Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and Permanent Senior Distinguished Research Fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. MacIntyre received his early philosophical training at the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford.

MacIntyre is widely considered one of the world’s top philosophers in ethics and political philosophy. His book, After Virtue, is a classic exposition of a virtue theory of ethics, and is regarded as one of the most influential books in philosophy written in the modern era. MacIntyre argues that while there is no objective moral standard that holds in any era, a historical analysis of morality can permit fruitful moral discussion, avoiding the specter of nihilism that 19th century thinkers like Nietzsche struggled with. MacIntyre believes that a purpose-based (teleological) view of morality represents at least a framework within which cultures can effectively approach moral issues.

MacIntyre’s other notable books include:Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, Three Rival Versions of Moral Inquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition, and Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Being Need the Virtues.

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