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"Tradition, Rationality and Virtue" provides the first comprehensive and detailed treatment of the work of Alasdair MacIntyre. In this book, Thomas D'Andrea presents an accessible critical study of the full range of MacIntyre's thought, across ethical theory, psychoanalytic theory, social and political philosophy, Marxist theory, and the philosophy of religion. Moving from the roots of MacIntyre's thought in ethical inquiry, this book examines MacIntyre's treatment of Marx, Christianity, and the nature of human action and discusses in depth the development and applications of MacIntyre's After Virtue project. The book culminates in an examination of major internal and external criticisms of MacIntyre's work and a consideration of its future directions. ... Read more

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Tradition in the Ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre presents a stimulating intellectual history and expertly reasoned defense of this towering figure in contemporary American philosophy. Drawing on interviews and published works, Christopher Lutz traces MacIntyreOs philosophical development and refutes the criticisms of the major thinkers_including Martha Nussbaum and Thomas Nagel_who have most vocally attacked him. Permanently shifting the debate on MacIntyreOs oeuvre, Lutz convincingly demonstrates how MacIntyreOs neo-Aristotelian ethical thought provides an essential corrective to the contemporary discussions of relativism and ideology, while successfully drawing on the objectivity of Thomistic natural law. ... Read more

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A great read
This is a very illuminating work on MacIntyre's moral philosophy.The reader who has no familiarity with this ethicist will find a very clear introduction.Those who are already well-read in MacIntyre will find an interpreter who MacIntyre himself says has written "a splendid and measured exposition of my work and has discussed some major criticisms of it with unusual insight into what is at issue."

I have read every page of this work and find it remarkably lucid and engaging.I appreciate how he laid out the story of MacIntyre's own philsophical development at the beginning and then gave a very clear exposition of "tradition" and "rationality," key terms in MacIntyre's philosophy. Lutz also gives a careful exposition of major objections to MacIntyre's philosophy, i.e., one camp claims that he is relativistic while another argues that he is fideistic.Lutz offers impressive replies to these and other objections.I was especially impressed with how he dealt with Martha Nussbaum.

MacIntyre's thought has gone through many stages of development, from a fideistic Christian Marxist analytic philosopher, atheist Hume scholar, dissatisfied Aristotelian to a Catholic Thomist.If you need a map of this development, you could not do better than to read this work. ... Read more

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A wonderful collection of essays in philosophical theology. Chapters include: I. Can Religion Be Discussed? II. Metaphysics, Logic and Theology III. The Existence of God IV. Can God's Existence Be Disproved? V. A Religious Way of Knowing VI. Theology and Falsifications VII. Religion As The Inexpressible VIII. Divine Omnipotence and Human Freedom IX. Creation X. Tertullian's Paradox XI. The Perfect Good XII. Demythologizing and the Probem of Validity XIII. Miracles XIV. Visions XV. Death ... Read more

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MacIntyre is a Marxist
MacIntyre teaches at Notre Dame and is a self-acclaimed Marxist. He was a member of the communist party in his early years. The parts of the book attributed to him reflect this. He is bias and condescending of conservative Christians. Plus the foundation for his version of "Virtues" is not Biblical but historical. I say a historical foundation is a shifty one since all human history is written by bias people. If virtues are based on the Bible they transcend human history and yearn to hear only the heart of God.

More than worthwhile
It's been over a year, so my memory of much of this book is fuzzy. That said, John Howard Yoder's contribution, Practicing the Rule of Christ, is worth more than its weight in gold. The article was originally written as a study guide on forgiveness, complete with study questions. Some additional material was added a bit later in a more standard essay form. This article was, without any doubt, the most provocative thing I've read in quite some time. The ideas from it still swirl around in my head on a regular basis.

Plenty of other good stuff on Christian conception of virtues as well. ... Read more

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Although Alasdair MacIntyre is best known today as the author of "After Virtue" (1981), he was, in the 1950s and 1960s, one of the most erudite members of Britain's Marxist Left: being a militant within, first, the Communist Party, and then the New Left. ... Read more

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This book is the first full length account of the significance of Alasdair MacIntyre's work for the social sciences. MacIntyre's moral philosophy is shown to provide the resources for a powerful critique of liberalism. His culture is seen as the inspiration for a critical social science of modernity. ... Read more

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The Moral Philosophy of David Hume
Hume's Ethical Writings by Alasdair MacIntyre is an excellent read. I would highly recommend this volume to philosophy students who are studying Hume beyond the "Enquiry". Some knowledge of the religious writings of Hume should also serve as a prerequisite. For this I would recommend, Religious Writings of Hume by Anthony Flew, and Dialogues Concerning natural religion by David Hume, and Richard H. Popkin (editor). This is not a book to read as one would read a novel. It should be digested slowly and methodically. ... Read more

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We live in a time of moral confusion: many believe there are no overarching moral norms and that we have lost an accepted body of moral knowledge. Alasdair MacIntyre addresses this problem in his restatement of Aristotelian and Thomistic virtue ethics; Stanley Hauerwas does so through his highly influential work in Christian ethics. Both recast virtue ethics in light of their interpretations of the later Wittgenstein's views of language. This book systematically assesses the underlying presuppositions of MacIntyre and Hauerwas, finding that their attempts to secure moral knowledge and restate virtue ethics, both philosophical and theological, fail. Scott Smith proposes alternative indications as to how we can secure moral knowledge, and how we should proceed in virtue ethics. ... Read more

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Excellent
The essays in this edited volume are truly insightful and thought-provoking - a highly recommended read.In his foreword to the book, Alasdair MacIntyre captures it best: "The papers in this volume are by a group of colleagues at Duke University . . . [whose] work has been informed by their shared reading, by extended interdisciplinary conversations and arguments, and by learning from each other's work. . . . It is one mark of a university that is flourishing that it is a place where such continuing, fruitfully inconclusive conversations on matters of moral and metaphysical moment are sustained."

Careful!
If you're looking for MacIntyre's work, this book has almost nothing in it by him. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Indispensible for any serious student of virtue ethics.
Few thinkers have done more to foster the contemporary revival of virtue ethics than Stanley Hauerwas and Alasdair Macintyre.This remarkable anthology,which was first published by Notre Dame in 1983 and which has never been out of print, is not so much an anthology of virtue ethics as a collection of remarkable essays, many of them little known, on Moral philosophy, aesthetics and moral theology. These essays are not designed to advance a single school or program, as to suggest new and fruitful lines of inquiry for both moral philosophers and moral theologians. Among the fine contributions to this anthology are Peter Berger's" The Obsolescence of the Concept of Honor", Annette Baier's " Secular Faith", Simone Weil's " The lliad , or The Poem of Force.",and Herbert Fingarette's " The Meaning of Law in the Book of Job." All of that only scatches the surface. This is an incredibly rich, stimulating, intellectual feast. ... Read more

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This book offers an in-depth exploration of the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the leading social and ethical philosophers of our time. Because MacIntyre's historical and philosophical arguments exhibit great erudition and a dense style, his work is sometimes not so accessible to readers who might otherwise find his thought enlightening. Bruce Ballard provides a great service in "Understanding MacIntyre," clearly explaining the philosopher's basic tenets as set forth in the works "After Virtue, Whose Justice? Which Rationality?" and "Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry". A thorough summary of MacIntyre's philosophy is followed by a critical discussion of his ideas and a comparison of his work with that of other philosophers. "Understanding MacIntyre" is a seminal study that will contribute greatly to our understanding of contemporary philosophy. ... Read more