Alasdair Macintyre virtue ethics

1
Alasdair Macintyre virtue ethics

• Criticised meta-ethics by saying we have been
  left in a moral vacuum. Macintyre reasoned that
  instead of debating right and wrong, morality
  should be approached historically.

2
Morality gone?

• Primarily Macintyre argues that morality has lost
  its way. He suggests that people no longer look
  at what is right rather what is less wrong.
  People have to choose to abandon their principles
  or allow harm to come to others. This is a tough
  choice that quite simply people cannot be
  bothered to make. In this sense morality has lost
  its way.

3
Look at History!

• Macintyre urges people to get involved with the
  history of ethics before looking at recent
  ethical theories. He believed that understanding
  the historical context of ethics is fundamental
  prior to application
• You need to appreciate the 'narrative context'
  (seeing the development of ethics as a story).

4
How do you feel about this statement, do you
agree with abortion?
A girl has become pregnant and had an abortion
5
Why find out the context?

• if we are talking about an ethical issue, such as
  the girlwho became pregnant and had an abortion,
  we have to find out about the context of the
  issue prior to saying
• In this particular case, the Nicaraguan 9-year
  old girl came from a Catholic country where
  abortion is illegal in all circumstances. The
  doctors who carried out the abortion were
  condemned by the Church, and excommunicated
  themselves Following this, tens of thousands of
  Nicaraguans excommunicated themselves from the
  church.

6
So

• Looking at the context of the ethical dilemma
  has allowed us to see a clearer picture and
  realise we were too quick to judge without
  knowing all the facts.
• Finding out about the context of an issue
  helps us understand the decisions people make.

7
This is why different societies and cultures have
differing moral standards

• Virtues differ in each country and society
  through time progression. Macintyre suggests that
  virtues are dependent on solving the problems of
  various people and the context of the society.

8

• The Homeric virtues included physical strength,
  courage, cunning and friendship.
• In small tribal communities, cunning, strength,
  even ruthlessness may be virtuous.
• As villages developed into large cities, these
  virtues changed.
• The Athenian virtues included Justice and
  Temperance, and physical strength was no longer
  so important. Whereas cunning used to be prized,
  more value would now be put on Wisdom, the sort
  of understanding of human behaviour that could
  navigate through complex conflicts that might
  arise with so many people living together

9

• MacIntyre calls the virtues or qualities of
  character 'internal goods' He says we also place
  value on 'external goods' . Aristotle would have
  agreed here .

10
To summarise Macintyre

• he says that we value different qualities of
  character, practices and physical things, and
  that by understanding historical and social
  context, we can understand ethical issues that
  arise.