Study On Virtue And Practice From MacIntyre’s Perspective

Alasdair MacIntyre is one of the most influential contemporary ethicists, who has madea significant contribution to promoting the revival of virtue ethics. He presented manycritical thinking about the moral crisis of modern Western society in his famousmasterpiece After Virtue, resulting in a lot of profound perspective. Among them, the viewof virtue and practice is just one part, and also one of the most worth further studying part.MacIntyre’s view of virtue and practice, in which the elements he used to build athree-stage theory of virtue root in Aristotle’s thought, is the inheritance and transcendenceof Aristotelian tradition. Meanwhile, MacIntyre tries to transcend the traditionalinterpretation in some respects, and combines the current specific historical contexts withhis own perspective, which in turn conforms to the features of present age.This thesis will explain virtue and practice of MacIntyre’s perspective from the ethicaldimension. Firstly, trace the origin of virtue and practice from MacIntyre’s perspective,analyze the historical background and realistic prospect of this thought, and clarify itslinks with Aristotle’s traditional virtue. Secondly, focus on MacIntyre’s original work,refine the ideas about virtue and practice, and extract the essence. Thirdly, after elaborateon the definitions and relations of virtue and practice, point out the questions andchallenges it faces. Last but not the least, sort out the characteristics and limitations of thisthought, find out the essence that can be used for reference, and provide guidance for thecurrent moral construction, as well as provide inspiration for how to deal with thetraditional virtues.