Alisdair MacIntyre (1929-2025): The man who diagnosed the West’s moral crisis

The philosopher best known for his landmark work After Virtue, exposed the moral fragmentation of the modern West and called for a return to virtue grounded in a shared vision of the good. Jamie Franklin pays tribute to a thinker who reminded us that the world cannot flourish without the Christian faith

The Scottish born philosopher Alisdair MacIntyre enjoyed an illustrious academic career in both Britain and the United States. But the work he will always be remembered for is most certainly After Virtue. Over 40 years since its publication, it remains one of the most pertinent books to read for those seeking an understanding of the modern world. 

After Virtue

To give a brief account is not easy. The disturbing thesis is that the moral norms of today were formulated originally through a shared conception of the human good — a conception that has since been lost. In the wake of that loss, modern philosophers have attempted and failed to find another foundation for these moral norms.  

To put that slightly differently, in the pre-modern world — before the 17th century Enlightenment — people in the West had a mutual understanding of the purpose and destiny of human beings.

This mutual understanding made agreement about moral behavior possible. Roughly speaking, actions that helped individuals closer to their ultimate purpose were considered morally good, while those that did not were seen as morally bad. 

At this point, MacIntyre was articulating a moral vision that came not from Christianity but from Aristotle. In ethics, the Aristotelian tradition said that, in order for something to be good, it must achieve its inherent purpose. For example, a good watch is a watch that displays the time precisely, that is comfortable to wear on your wrist, that doesn’t run out of battery, and so forth.

The same is true of a human being: a good human being is one who fulfils his purpose. And the purpose of a human life, in this view, is to excel in virtue. The successful pursuit of virtue leads to “eudaimonia”, which means the blessed life.