Virtue and practices

    The contemporary philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre is influenced by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's belief that excellent achievement marks the person of virtue. But for MacIntyre the conception of excellence is not closely tied, as in Aristotle, to intellectual virtue or to the Golden Mean; instead, virtue is a social product, the product of a practice. For MacIntyre, every practice, like playing classical music or being a college student, is a socially established way to direct actions in a complex organization of cooperating persons. The main point of a practice is to create the "goods" defined by the practice. In this way, standards of excellence are set by the practice. By engaging in a practice, a person accepts the standards of that practice and often internalizes its standards. A virtuous person acquires the ability to achieve the goods of the practice, to live its standards in an exemplary way. A practice is cooperative, so people must also be fair and truthful in order to enrich it. Without justice and truthfulness, the social cooperation enriching the practice would be thwarted.
    Practices exist in social networks; we do not make our own practices, but become part of an already defined practice, albeit one that we may change. Once we enter a practice, the roles and structures of that practice determine what we should do and then how well it is done. Almost all of our actions, to one degree or another, are guided and defined by some practice. Given the ubiquitous presence of practice, it makes sense to claim that all virtues, even the virtues thought to be characteristic of human beings as such, are socially defined and identified within practices. One step further: humans flourish as human beings by finding some role in some practice, and by using this role to realize its internalized goals.
    The point is that the "practice" forms opinions about the existence of virtue, and those opinions are not easily reducible to actions and characteristics. The decision about the presence of virtue is based on a form of life in which many people participate. In the case of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Albert Schweitzer, that form of life involves basic humanitarian concern for others. You and I participate, to a degree, in this "practice," as well as in many others, some of which may be in conflict with contemporary moral concerns.   Top

Evaluating MacIntyre’s position

    MacIntyre is the leading proponent of a practice view. His analysis suffers from the general problems of this approach. Practices are often vaguely defined, and may even promote contradictory conclusions. Indeed, a practice may propose evil ends, so we may be more inclined to say that someone who flourishes within certain practices -- those involving criminality, abusive treatment, aggression, or gratuitous violence -- may actually be people of vice and not of virtue. The verdict of a good practice is crucial, but we need to evaluate actions and characteristics to determine which practices produce judgments about virtue that we should respect. Although a practice may help to define virtue, morally virtuous people are able to critique practices in which they engaged.  Top