Alasdair MacIntyre, Plain Persons | Plain Persons as Moral Philosophers | Philosophy Core Concepts

This is a video in my new Core Concepts series -- designed to provide students and lifelong learners a brief discussion focused on one main concept from a classic philosophical text and thinker.

This Core Concept video focuses on Alasdair MacIntyre's essay "Plain Persons and Moral Philosophy", and discusses the extent to which what MacIntyre calls "plain persons" need to be or become moral philosophers. He writes:

"We can now say something more not only about how much of a moral
philosopher the plain person has to be, but also about what kind of a
moral philosopher the plain person has to be and how this may differ
from situation to situation. The plain person needs as much of a theory
as will enable her or him to identify what the significant alternatives
are which now confront her or him, and to understand why and how it
was in the past that she or he did or did not make mistakes in acting in
one way rather than another. That need may not be met, not only if the
plain person is insufficiently a theorist, but also if the theory which is
made available to her or him, even if true and adequate qua theory, is
stated in too much abstraction from the specificities and particularities
of her or his historical and autobiographical situation."

#MacIntyre #AfterVirtue #Virtue #Ethics #PlainPersons #MoralTheory #Narrative #Aristotelianism #Philosophy #Practices #Rules

[baaaaark]

As a "plain person" who read Nicomachean Ethics a few months ago, this was surprisingly relevant. Thank you.

His ideas seem quite Pragmatic to me, like plain persons are just trying to find solutions to the moral problems of our lives...

[robertagarvey]

Really valuable to my own discernment process, thank you