Overview

This vital collection showcases the trajectory of MacIntyre's thought and the perennial significance of his work. One of the world's foremost philosophers for over half a century, Alasdair MacIntyre stands at the forefront of the revival of Aristotelianism in contemporary thought. Alasdair MacIntyre on Practical Philosophy serves as an accessible introduction to MacIntyre's work while also providing a clear sense of how he continued to develop and refine his philosophy after the publication of After Virtue. This essential reader includes some of his most important works on ethics and politics, including unpublished pieces from his Common Goods and Political Reasoning project. Focusing on the period between After Virtue and MacIntyre's final masterpiece, Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, the collection shows how he came to understand Aristotelianism not merely as a rival to consequentialist and deontological ethical theories, but as a distinctive account of ethical inquiry, one that can illuminate both the sources of our contemporary moral disputes and the conditions under which true moral progress can be made. Alasdair MacIntyre on Practical Philosophy also reveals how MacIntyre found vital resources for understanding and criticizing the irrationalities and injustices of contemporary society and politics in the Aristotelian tradition.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kelvin Knight ,  Peter Wicks
Publisher:   University of Notre Dame Press
Imprint:   University of Notre Dame Press
ISBN:  

9780268210502

ISBN 10:   0268210500
Pages:   442
Publication Date:   01 March 2026
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Introduction Part 1. Rethinking a Tradition of Practical Rationality 1. Plain Persons and Moral Philosophy: Rules, Virtues and Goods 2. Does Applied Ethics Rest on a Mistake? 3. Are Philosophical Problems Insoluble? The Relevance of System and History 4. The Idea of an Educated Public 5. Interview with Dmitri Nikulin 6. The Recovery of Moral Agency? 7. Conflicts of Desire 8. Interview with Alex Voorhoeve 9. Danish Ethical Demands and French Common Goods: Two Moral Philosophies 10. On Having Survived the Academic Moral Philosophy of the Twentieth Century Part 2. Challenging Contemporary Politics 11. Breaking the Chains of Reason 12. The Theses on Feuerbach: A Road Not Taken 13. Politics, Philosophy and the Common Good 14. How Aristotelianism Can Become Revolutionary 15. The Irrelevance of Ethics 16. Four–or More?–Political Aristotles 17. Two Kinds of Political Reasoning 18. Happiness 19. Political Rhetoric in a Fractured Society 20. Common Goods, Modern States, Rights, and—Maritain 21. Practical Rationality and Irrationality and their Social Settings Index

Reviews

""On his passing, Alasdair MacIntyre was honored from diverse perspectives for having reinvigorated moral philosophy in our time. This beautifully curated collection of his statements across a lifetime is a kind of testament to just how profound and wide-ranging he was. The book introduces and reintroduces his thought to an intellectual world that still needs it."" —Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism against Itself ""We are in debt to Knight and Wicks for this significant book. They are skilled readers of MacIntyre, as this selection of essays makes clear. MacIntyre is, hopefully, destined to be read for many years. This book will make that possible."" —Stanley Hauerwas, author of Jesus Changes Everything

""On his passing, Alasdair MacIntyre was honored from diverse perspectives for having reinvigorated moral philosophy in our time. This beautifully curated collection of his statements across a lifetime is a kind of testament to just how profound and wide-ranging he was. The book introduces and reintroduces his thought to an intellectual world that still needs it."" - Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism Against Itself ""We are in debt to Knight and Wicks for this significant book. They are skilled readers of MacIntyre, as this selection of essays makes clear. MacIntyre is, hopefully, destined to be read for many years. This book will make that possible."" - Stanley Hauerwas, author of Jesus Changes Everything

""On his passing, Alasdair MacIntyre was honored from diverse perspectives for having reinvigorated moral philosophy in our time. This beautifully curated collection of his statements across a lifetime is a kind of testament to just how profound and wide-ranging he was. The book introduces and reintroduces his thought to an intellectual world that still needs it."" --Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism Against Itself ""We are in debt to Knight and Wicks for this significant book. They are skilled readers of MacIntyre, as this selection of essays makes clear. MacIntyre is, hopefully, destined to be read for many years. This book will make that possible."" --Stanley Hauerwas, author of Jesus Changes Everything

Author Information

Kelvin Knight a is reader in ethics and politics at London Metropolitan University, where he was the director of the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics from 2009 to 2020. He is the author of Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre. Peter Wicks is a scholar-in-residence at the Elm Institute and a lecturer at Yale University.

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