Alasdair MacIntyre is one of the few professional philosophers whose writings span both technical analytical philosophy and those general moral or intellectual questions that laymen often suppose to be the province of philosophy but that are seldom discussed within its bounds. The unity of this book--made up both of original and previously published pieces--lies in its attempt to expose this dichotomy and to link beliefs and moral theories with philosophical criticism. The author successively criticizes Christianity, Marxism, and psychoanalysis for their failure to express the forms of...

Writing in an age that exalted reason, the Scottish-born skeptic David Hume was the first modern philosopher to emphasize the role of psychology, or passion, in the formulation of moral judgments and ethical systems. Included in this edition of his writings is the entire text of "An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals" and selections from other works such as "A Treatise on Human Nature" and "Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion." Alasdair MacIntyre clarifies the relationship of Hume s intellect to his Calvinist background and cogently summarizes his importance to the development of...

Contending that Marxism achieved its unique position in part by adopting the content and functions of Christianity, MacIntyre details the religious attitudes and modes of belief that appear in Marxist doctrine as it developed historically from the philosophies of Hegel and Feuerbach, and as it has been carried on by latter-day interpreters from Rosa Luxemburg and Trotsky to Kautsky and Lukacs. The result is a lucid exposition of Marxism and an incisive account of its persistence and continuing importance.

A Short History of Ethics is a significant contribution written by one of the most important living philosophers. For the second edition Alasdair MacIntyre has included a new preface in which he examines his book "thirty years on" and considers its impact. It remains an important work, ideal for all students interested in ethics and morality.

MacIntyre's project, here as elsewhere, is to put up a fight against philosophical relativism. . . . The current form is the 'incommensurability, ' so-called, of differing standpoints or conceptual schemes. Mr. MacIntyre claims that different schools of philosophy must differ fundamentally about what counts as a rational way to settle intellectual differences. Reading between the lines, one can see that he has in mind nationalities as well as thinkers, and literary criticism as well as academic philosophy. More explicitly, he labels and discusses three significantly different standpoints: the...

Whose Justice? Which Rationality?, the sequel to After Virtue, is a persuasive argument of there not being rationality that is not the rationality of some tradition. MacIntyre examines the problems presented by the existence of rival traditions of inquiry in the cases of four major philosophers: Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and Hume.

When "After Virtue" first appeared in 1981, it was recognized as a significant and potentially controversial critique of contemporary moral philosophy. Newsweek called it "a stunning new study of ethics by one of the foremost moral philosophers in the English-speaking world." Since that time, the book has been translated into more than fifteen foreign languages and has sold over one hundred thousand copies. Now, twenty-five years later, the University of Notre Dame Press is pleased to release the third edition of "After Virtue", which includes a new prologue "After Virtue after a Quarter of a...

The Unconscious: a Conceptual Analysis is an important and clearly written philosophical inquiry into the fundamental concept of psychoanalysis: the unconscious. Alasdair MacIntyre argues that Freud's conception of the unconscious is complicated by his tendency to use the term in two different ways. MacIntyre shows how Freud uses the term 'unconscious' both as a straightforward description of psychological phenomena, and as a theoretical notion to explain the links between childhood events and adult behaviour. This clarification helps to shed light on the many misunderstandings of...

The Unconscious: a Conceptual Analysis is an important and clearly written philosophical inquiry into the fundamental concept of psychoanalysis: the unconscious. Alasdair MacIntyre argues that Freud's conception of the unconscious is complicated by his tendency to use the term in two different ways. MacIntyre shows how Freud uses the term 'unconscious' both as a straightforward description of psychological phenomena, and as a theoretical notion to explain the links between childhood events and adult behaviour. This clarification helps to shed light on the many misunderstandings of...