Whose Justice? Which Rationality?Is there any cause or war worth risking one's life for? How can we determine which actions are vices and which virtues? MacIntyre, professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University, unravels these and other such questions by linking the concept of justice to what he calls practical rationality. He rejects the grab-what-you-can, utilitarian yardstick adopted by moral relativists. Instead, he argues that four wholly different, incompatible ideas of justice put forth by Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas and Hume have helped shape our modern individualistic world. In his unorthodox view, each person seeks the good through an ongoing dialogue with one of these traditions or within Jewish, non-Western or other historical traditions. This weighty sequel to After Virtue (1981) is certain to stir debate. |
Contents
Rival Justices Competing Rationalities | 1 |
Justice and Action in the Homeric Imagination | 12 |
The Division of the PostHomeric Inheritance | 30 |
Copyright | |
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able account of justice achieve action adequate allegiance appeal Aquinas aretē argued argument Aristotelian Aristotle Aristotle's asserted Athenian Athens Augustinian beliefs Book central century Cicero claims conception of justice conclusion conflict confronted context course culture debate dialectical disagreement divine earlier embodied evaluation excellence expression fundamental Gorgias Greek Homeric human Hume Hume's Humean Hutcheson incompatible individual insofar intellectual Isocrates judge judgments kind language liberal ment modern modes moral philosophy moral sense nature Neoptolemus Nicomachean Ethics Odysseus one's particular passions Periclean Pericles person Philoctetes phronesis Plato pleonexia polis political practical rationality practical reasoning practical syllogism premises presupposed principles prohairesis question rational justification recognize relationship requires respect rules of justice Scotland Scottish sions social order Socrates someone Sophocles specific Stair standards standpoint syllogism synderesis telos theology theory Thrasymachus Thucydides thumos tical tion tradition of enquiry Treatise truth understanding understood universal virtue