Alisdair MacIntyre RIP
It may seem quaint that a moral philosopher should still matter in our frantic and tech-saturated world, but MacIntyre, who died yesterday, has. He lies behind things we are familiar with in our culture- the popularity of talk about ‘narratives’, for example, and the rise of ‘post-liberal’ kinds of Christian theology. He made no effort to make himself popular or user-friendly, but in this tribute I will highlight five ideas of immediate relevance and importance.
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We moderns are usually what MacIntyre called ‘emotivists,’ who base commitments on feelings. But these are unstable bases. For this reason in our age feeling eventually slides into power. The idea that everything comes down to power, which emotions masked, may be found readily on both the left and right. We can see the havoc it has wreaked is easy to see. The philosopher associated with this is Nietzsche.
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Serious claims to truth are made within traditions, which entail virtues and moral ‘ends’ or goals as well. Christianity is a family of such traditions. It is strongest when it confronts and responds to the strongest challenges.
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The theme of challenge and dialogue is important. Though he stressed that traditions are particular, their rationality distinct, this did not mean that he was narrow. On the contrary traditions should be in continual debate. For this reason he thought the university was of great importance; we would do well to heed this in our time of assault on them masking itself as ‘conservative.’
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As a catholic Christian MacIntyre, though a philosopher, took our bodily nature seriously. He wrote about humankind called ‘Dependent Rational Animals’ in which he compared us to dolphins. I find this strain of his thought particularly apposite in our own technological moment.
Now before the throne he apprehends yet more of the divine light from the wounded Lamb, peace +GRS
