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The contribution to contemporary philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre is enormous. His writings on ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of the social sciences and the history of philosophy have established him as one of the philosophical giants of the last fifty years

The contribution to contemporary philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre is enormous. His writings on ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of the social sciences and the history of philosophy have established him as one of the philosophical giants of the last fifty years. His best-known book, After Virtue (1981), spurred the profound revival of virtue ethics. Moreover, MacIntyre, unlike so many of his contemporaries, has exerted a deep influence beyond the bourns of academic philosophy. This volume focuses on the major themes of MacIntyre's work with critical expositions of MacIntyre's views on the history of philosophy, the role of tradition in philosophical inquiry, the philosophy of the social sciences, moral philosophy, political theory, and his critique of the assumptions and institutions of modernity. Written by a distinguished team of philosophers, this volume will have a wide appeal outside philosophy to students in the social sciences, law, theology, and political theory

Intro -- Title Page -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Chapter 1: The Roots of After Virtue -- Chapter 2: MacIntyre's Mature Position -- Chapter 3: Lindbeck and the Identity of the Christian Tradition -- Chapter 4: Lindbeck and MacIntyre as Complementary Thinkers -- Bibliography.

Intro -- Title Page -- Contributors -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Alasdair MacIntyre: An Intellectual Biography -- Chapter 2: MacIntyre and Theology -- Chapter 3: MacIntyre and Thomism -- Chapter 4: MacIntyre and Moral Philosophy -- Chapter 5: MacIntyre and Classical Philosophy -- Chapter 6: MacIntyre and Political Philosophy -- Chapter 7: MacIntyre and Marxism -- Chapter 8: MacIntyre and Frankfurt School Critical Theory -- Chapter 9: MacIntyre and Communication -- Chapter 10: MacIntyre and Business Ethics -- Chapter 11: MacIntyre and Sociology -- Chapter 12: MacIntyre and Education -- Chapter 13: MacIntyre and Law -- Chapter 14: MacIntyre and Therapeutic Method.

Intro -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- 1 The Genesis of MacIntyre's Educational Project: A Democratic Culture and Community of Critical Enquiry -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Genesis of MacIntyre's Thinking on Communities Dedicated to a Shared Framework of Humanity and Practical Rationality -- 1.3 Breaking the Chains of Apathy and Conformism: Reason and Freedom Are Inseperable to Liberation -- 1.4 A Central Aim of Education Concerns the Cultivation of Rationality In and Through a Democratic Culture of Critical Enquiry -- 1.5 Conclusion -- References -- 2 MacIntyre's Restoration of Rationality: The Essence of Human Nature Is Reason -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 MacIntyre's Theory of Human Action: The Hallmark of Human Agency Is Rationality that Is Made Intelligible Through Purposeful Acts -- 2.3 Rationality and the Explanation of Human Agency Through Social Science -- 2.4 Conclusion -- References -- 3 MacIntyre's Enlightenment Educational Ideal: Cultivating Rationality and Contemporary Discourse Through Controversy and Constrained Disagreement -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 MacIntyre's Commitment to an Enlightenment Educational Ideal: Cultivating Independent Enlightened Thinkers -- 3.3 MacIntyre's Theory of Rational Vindication: Dialectical Enquiry, Rational Justification, and Truth -- 3.4 Revitalising an Educated Public Through Controversy and Constrained Disagreement: The Place and Role of Universities in Contemporary Society -- 3.5 Conclusion -- References -- 4 MacIntyre's Educational Project Applied: Cultivating Independent Rational Agents with Virtuous Dispositions -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 MacIntyre on the Primacy of Tradition-Orientated Communities: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues -- 4.3 Against Education of Our Age: Cultivating Independent Reasoners Through Moral Enquiry and Dependency -- 4.4 Conclusion -- References.

After Virtue is a watershed in MacIntyre's career. It follows his emergence from Marxism, but draws on Marxist sources and arguments. It precedes his move to Thomism, but already draws on Augustine and Aquinas. Because of its watershed nature, it has gained a wide readership in various fields but it treats a variety of issues in ways that are unfamiliar either to Marxists schooled in the social sciences or to Thomists schooled in medieval metaphysics. Reading Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue provides a commentary that will be accessible to students, valuable to scholars, and useful to teachers. Students will find help to navigate the two main arguments of After Virtue, to understand its interpretation of history, and to engage its proposal for a form of ethics and politics that returns to the tradition of the virtues. Scholars will find the book useful as a general guide to MacIntyre's ethics. Teachers will find a book that can help to direct their students' reading and keep classroom discussions focused on the book's central concerns.

Alasdair MacIntyre is one of the most controversial philosophers and social theorists of our time. He opposes liberalism and postmodernism with the teleological arguments of an updated Thomistic Aristotelianism. It is this tradition, he claims, which presents the best theory so far about the nature of rationality, morality and politics. This is the first Reader of MacIntyre's work