After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory

Consequentialism is a system of ethics in which the consequences of moral choices are central. It is characteristic of utilitarianism as opposed to virtue ethics, and is discussed in this light by MacIntyre.

The contest (or agon in Greek) was a concept central to life in classical Greek society, embodying the idea of competition and struggle to achieve some good or goal. It was operative in such spheres of life as the Olympic games, political campaigns, philosophical inquiry, and the theater. For MacIntyre, the idea of agon is tied in with the idea of life as narrative.

Deontology is a system of ethics in which the idea of following moral rules is central. MacIntyre contrasts this with virtue ethics, arguing that it became the main way of thinking about ethics from the Enlightenment onward.

Emotivism is a phenomenon that takes on two related guises in the book: as a philosophical idea and as a social tendency. Philosophically, in MacIntyre’s definition, emotivism is “the doctrine that all evaluative judgments and more specifically all moral judgments are nothing but expressions of preference, expressions of attitude or feeling, insofar as they are moral or evaluative in character” (12). He believes that emotivism appears as a social tendency in reducing debates to zero-sum games in which neither side can make a rational argument for their position and must instead resort to emotive appeals that can lead to no clear resolution. MacIntyre takes a dim view of emotivism, and his main thesis in the book is that emotivism has become the underlying assumption of modern moral discourse.

Eudaimonia is a Greek word translated variously as “happiness,” “flourishing,” “wellbeing,” etc. In Aristotle’s ethics, it is the goal of moral life. MacIntyre cites it in discussing the need to revive Aristotle’s ethics for the present day.

Heroic society is MacIntyre’s term for a particular type of society in ancient times based on an ethic that emphasized heroism, honor, sacrifice, and obligations to the community. Examples of this type of society include Homeric Greece and Viking society, but heroic values continued to influence society in later periods.

Incommensurability is the state or condition of having no common basis, measure, or standard of comparison. MacIntyre argues that it is a hallmark of modern moral debates, in which different and directly-opposed values are defended that have no common grounds for agreement.

Narrative is the concept of a human life as embodying a story involving moral choices. For MacIntyre, this concept is essential to virtue ethics because it relates morality to the totality of human life and the self.

Practice is, in MacIntyre’s analysis, one of the three concepts that are prior to understanding the concept of virtue; the others are narrative and moral tradition. A practice is an activity done in society for which a particular type of moral excellence is required and which has goods internal to itself. The concept of practice is discussed in Chapter 14, and a fuller definition is provided near the bottom of Page 187. The concept of practice allows MacIntyre to relate morality more closely to society and human life.

In philosophy, the Greek term telos refers to an end or purpose toward which a person or thing strives. Teleology refers to a theory of ends or purposes in nature. MacIntyre argues that classical Greek philosophy, which assumed the existence of purpose in nature, gives a better account of reality than modern systems that reject teleology.

The third preliminary concept to virtue, tradition (more specifically, moral tradition) is an ongoing argument about what constitutes the good for human life and society. Tradition embodies practices as they are handed down through time and is sustained through the practice of the virtues.

In ethics, universalizability is the ability of a moral precept to be applied to everyone in any time or place. As discussed by MacIntyre, Kant considered this a necessary element of morality.

Utilitarianism is the concept of usefulness as applied to ethics. A utilitarian typically asks the question of how a particular ethical precept would be useful to society. Historically, utilitarianism was an important 19th-century movement in British philosophy led by Jeremy Bentham and, later, John Stuart Mill. MacIntyre considers this movement a crucial link between the Enlightenment and modern emotivism.

Virtue ethics is a system of ethics in which the concept of virtue is central. In MacIntyre’s analysis, the ethics of Plato and especially Aristotle centered on virtue, and he advocates for reviving this approach to ethics. Virtue ethics is often contrasted with consequentialism and deontology (See: Background).