Alasdair MacIntyre
Moral philosopher (1929 to 2025) whose After Virtue (1981) argued that modern moral debate is interminable because it has lost the tradition of the virtues, and called for local communities to sustain moral life.
Alasdair MacIntyre did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsThe most striking feature of contemporary moral utterance is that so much of it is used to express disagreements; and the most striking feature of the debates in which these disagreements are expressed is their interminable character.
↗After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Our reading
We need local communities that can sustain moral and intellectual life through a new dark age
Their wordsWhat matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us.
↗After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Their wordsThis time however the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time.
↗After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)archive.org All 4 from this book
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Our reading
There are no natural human rights; believing in them is like believing in witches and unicorns
Their wordsthere are no such rights, and belief in them is one with belief in witches and in unicorns.
↗After Virtue (University of Notre Dame Press, 1981)archive.org All 4 from this book