Macintyre’s arguments contribute a view of the virtues that recognizes shortcomings of modern society and incorporates a history of virtues. His argument presents concepts to the philosophical world that stimulate a discussion of what our modern conception of morality and virtue consists of. A main point that MacIntyre raises throughout his book is the idea of modern society losing virtues and the decay of the language of morality. He backs this up by giving examples of moral debates that occur today, such as issues of war and abortion. Through explaining and analyzing these arguments it is seen that there is an inability to have moral debate in the modern sense due to emotivism and the inability to compare arguments effectively. MacIntyre
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To start, he analyzes points of view from many time periods, this collection of data and knowledge of the past leads him to have the capability to form his own perception of virtue and have a validated argument. An important aspect is the way he links the social aspect of society with philosophy. He speaks of the importance of human narrative and looking at history for a true understanding of a philosophy. This emphasis on understanding the culture, circumstances, and context of each philosophy makes it so philosophers, such as Aristotle and Kant, are independent of their societal customs and laws. This supports the idea that the philosophy of virtue has evolved over time for MacIntyre recognizes that social situations effect the mind of a philosopher. For example, he shows this by analyzing how the virtues that Aristotle valued most were different from those of the medieval thinkers. As MacIntyre states in his book, narratives are layered within narratives (pg. 213) and his arguments acknowledge that the philosophy of virtues we have today is a philosophy, starting with the heroic ages, that is layered with ideas from different viewpoints and ages. To get at the core of our moral beliefs MacIntyre unpacks the layers to make the conclusion that an adapted Aristotelian version of virtue is what the modern conception of virtue should look
To start, he analyzes points of view from many time periods, this collection of data and knowledge of the past leads him to have the capability to form his own perception of virtue and have a validated argument. An important aspect is the way he links the social aspect of society with philosophy. He speaks of the importance of human narrative and looking at history for a true understanding of a philosophy. This emphasis on understanding the culture, circumstances, and context of each philosophy makes it so philosophers, such as Aristotle and Kant, are independent of their societal customs and laws. This supports the idea that the philosophy of virtue has evolved over time for MacIntyre recognizes that social situations effect the mind of a philosopher. For example, he shows this by analyzing how the virtues that Aristotle valued most were different from those of the medieval thinkers. As MacIntyre states in his book, narratives are layered within narratives (pg. 213) and his arguments acknowledge that the philosophy of virtues we have today is a philosophy, starting with the heroic ages, that is layered with ideas from different viewpoints and ages. To get at the core of our moral beliefs MacIntyre unpacks the layers to make the conclusion that an adapted Aristotelian version of virtue is what the modern conception of virtue should look