Virtue Theory. Mcintyre Review

Maclntyre is an American ethicist who enjoyed a high reputation in the20thcentury. The coming out of his magnum opus, After Virtue, which deeply reflected onwestern morality from a unique perspective, received wide publicity among all walks oflife. Maclntyre is a typical representative of ethics of virtue. In the above works he gavestrong criticism to such idea as individualism and emotionalism, which are prevalentnowadays. Furthermore on the basis of criticism he put forward his proposition onethics of virtue and more extensive and thorough discussion upon it appeared therefrom.This thesis aims at giving a simple induction and evaluation to Maclntyre's ethicsof virtue, striving to integrate the individual interpretation into the understanding of theothers.Taking the main content of Maclntyre's theory of virtue as the kernel, this paperexpounds such aspects as the formation, content, insufficiency and significance of thetheory.With regard to Maclntyre himself, he critically analyzed contemporary status quoof virtue and probed into its origin and then advocated going back to traditionalAristotle's proposition and views on virtue of the author's own. Although this goingback of virtue tradition will surly turn out to be Utopia under the present socialbackground, this thesis is bound to function as enlightenment and guidance in terms ofboth the individual who becomes dizzy with interest and the present status of virtue inChina.