Abstract
In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre develops a theory of virtue based on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics which has been quite influential. This chapter examines the way in which MacIntyre's own ethics is related to his interpretation of Aristotle. The charge of relativism is derived from MacIntyre's historical and social understanding of morality and rationality. Such an understanding, however, is a characteristic Aristotelian standpoint. More important, MacIntyre's insistence that an appropriate account of virtue must put it in the human life as a whole is clearly inspired by Aristotle's point that virtue must be related to the function of human life. In the contemporary revival of virtue ethics, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics has been hailed as the most important classic in Western ethics. The charge of relativism that MacIntyre faces seems to be rooted in his very project to reject Aristotle's teleology while retaining only his theory of moral virtue.
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