On Macintyre’s Virtue Theory In After Virtue

Macintyre is one of the most important philosophers in the contemporarywestern world，and After Virtue is his most important masterpiece in the filed ofmoral philosophy. The book reveals the moral crisis of modern western society. Itpinpoints sharply the current situation of western virtue and criticizes it fiercely.Macintyre also has insight into the defect of modern moral philosophy and points outthat its error lies in the abandon of Aristotle tradition. Giving an induction toAristotle’s virtue theory, Macintyre proposes his new virtue theory with an aim tovigorously save the lost traditional moral culture and to solve social moral crisis.According to the logic of writing design of After virtue, this paper intends todiscuss Macintyre’s virtue theory comprehensively and profoundly by elaboratingthe book. This paper introduces Macintyre’s analysis and criticism of the currentsituation of western virtue and analyzes the realistic reason and historical root ofmoral crisis. In addition, by following Macintyre’s methodology of historicity, thepaper reviews the history of western virtue tradition and clarifies the generation anddevelopment of the concept of “virtue”. Finally, the paper states Macintyre’s newvirtue theory from three levels: the relationship between virtue and practice, virtueand the individual’s whole life and virtue and tradition.