PREMIUM-Episode 59: Alasdair MacIntyre on Moral Justifications

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: PREMIUM-Episode 59: Alasdair MacIntyre on Moral Justifications
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 00:30:17
• Published: 2012-07-05 16:43

On Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (1981), mostly ch. 3-7 and 14-17. What justifies ethical claims? MacIntyre claims that no modern attempt to ground ethics has worked, and that's because we've abandoned Aristotle. We see facts and values as fundamentally different: the things science discovers vs. these weird things that have nothing to do with science. In Aristotle's teleological view, everything comes with built-in goals, so just as a plant will aim grow green and healthy, people have a definite kind of virtue towards which we do and should naturally strive. Get the full discussion at partiallyexaminedlife.com.