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Summary: a essential text for those interested in moral philosophy
Review: In Three Rival Versions Alasdair MacIntyre contends that there are three primary modes of moral inquiry. The first he calls encyclopeadia and is primarly a cateloging of moral principles understood as mirroring reality by post-Enlightenment moral philosophers. The second is the genealogical method which finds its orgin in Nietzsche's critique of morality. Although many think of these two modes of inquiry as exhaustive of the possible modes of inquiry, MacIntyre claims that there is a third alternative rooted in the Thomistic tradition. In Three Rival Versions MacIntyre articulates and defends this third alternative against the encyclopeadic and genealogical versions of moral inquiry. This work is an essential text for understanding the contemporary debates in moral philosophy.
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Summary: Clarifies the alternative streams of modern thought.
Review: It is not often that a book of moral philosophy provides both a deep education in the history and content of thought, and a concrete set of alternatives to transform modern living.In this book, MacIntryre argues that the three supposedly incommensurable approaches to moral life that are left on the table in modern moral philosophy ought to be acknowledged. The battle between the three approaches is too often papered over. A better method would be to acknowledge to students that the Universities themselves are at war over these approaches, and are in fact an arena for this conflict, rather than an equal and uninvolved home for all ways of thinking. He is right. Any student of philosophy recognizes quickly that the instructors are speaking within incommensurable theories, speaking past one another. This book explains why, and does not attempt to provide a solution, other than to recognize that a war is going on. A Thomist like MacIntrye argues that a child must be brought up within the traditions of the truth as preparation to learn the truth. Yet modern science and the 19th century encyclopedists argue that truth is progressive. And Nietzche argues that an exposition of truth is merely the will to state the truth as seen by the person, a form of the will to power. These incommensurable approaches can only be the source of conflict in learning. To win, MacIntyre argues, would require one to transcend the others by explaining the problems of the other modes of thinking, solving those problems for the other mode, and moving the debate on. None have as yet triumphed, although MacIntyre holds out hope for Thomistic arguments, based in Aristotle and moving from there. His discussion of the Augustine/Aristotle debates of the 14th Century Parisian university is rivetting (OK, I admit it, I am exaggerating). This is a difficult but worthwile compendium of lectures, informative and educational. A reader will understand modern philosophy better as a byproduct of reading this book.
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