Alasdair MacIntyre
foundation moral belief truth reason
“At the foundation of moral thinking lie beliefs in statements the truth of which no further reason can be given.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
philosophy imprison religion censorship political terror
“Imprisoning philosophy within the professionalizations and specializations of an institutionalized curriculum, after the manner of our contemporary European and North American culture, is arguably a good deal more effective in neutralizing its effects than either religious censorship or political terror”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
fish dead alive weight charles II
“Charles II once invited the members of the Royal Society to explain to him why a dead fish weighs more than the same fish alive; a number of subtle explanations were offered to him. He then pointed out that it does not.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
co-author narrative life
“we are never more (and sometimes less) than the co-authors of our own narratives.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
good stupid kant aristotle
“For Kant one can be both good and stupid; but for Aristotle stupidity of a certain kind precludes goodness.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
do story part myself
“What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
moral judgement linguistic survival classical theism
“Moral judgments are linguistic survivals from the practices of classical theism which have lost the context provided by these practices.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
life genre hagiography saga tragedy
“The true genre of the life is neither hagiography nor saga, but tragedy.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
kant morality teleology god freedom happiness
“Kant was right; morality did in the eighteenth century, as a matter of historical fact, presuppose something very like the teleological scheme of God, freedom and happiness as the final crown of virtue which Kant propounds. Detach morality from that framework and you will no longer have morality; or, at the very least, you will have radically transformed its character.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
professionalization thinking disaster culture
“The attempted professionalization of serious and systematic thinking has had a disastrous effect upon our culture”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
emperor cloth amusement everyone dressed rags popular
“To cry out that the emperor had no clothes on was at least to pick on one man only to the amusement of everyone else; to declare that almost everyone is dressed in rags is much less likely to be popular.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
power coopt absolute
“All power tends to coopt, and absolute power coopts absolutely.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
history prison museum self-congratulation
“History is neither a prison nor a museum, nor is it a set of materials for self-congratulation.”
― Alasdair MacIntyre
exercise virtue component good life
“The exercise of the virtues is itself a crucial component of the good life for man”
― Alasdair MacIntyre