Hegel and MacIntyre : Reason in History

This book brings the work of foremost Anglophone moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre into dialogue with G. W. F. Hegel. This collection examine a wide range of questions about moral life under conditions of late-capitalist modernity. The book will be of interest to scholars of MacIntyre and Hegel, Marxism, neo-Aristotelianism, and Thomism.

Hegel and MacIntyre: Reason in History brings the work of the foremost Anglophone moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre into dialogue with G. W. F. Hegel – two rationalist historicists whose affinities and tensions have often been noted, yet never before explored at book-length. The contributions in this collection, by leading Hegel and MacIntyre scholars and critical theorists, examine a wide range of questions about moral life under conditions of late-capitalist modernity. Section 1 addresses (meta)ethical questions about the foundations of normativity, the scope of justice, the metaphysics of the self and how ethical concepts acquire determinacy. Section 2 addresses questions about the politics of small communities, democratic life forms and the tensions between modern institutions and virtue-enabling social practices. Section 3 traces MacIntyre’s engagement with Hegel (and Marx) historically, from his British New Left beginnings to his final writings. Together, these articles show how philosophy can orient us in the conflicts of modernity. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of MacIntyre and Hegel but also to all who work with modern moral, social and political thought, especially Marxism, Neo-Aristotelianism and Thomism.