凡是现实的就是合理的吗？--麦金太尔的美德伦理学批判

Is All That Is Real Rational?

麦金太尔美德伦理学的主要内容是对美德本质的界定。美德理应是一种规范性的概念,但麦金太尔对美德的界定本质上是经验概括的、描述性的。他用"实践""人生叙事"和"传统"等描述性概念来界定美德及其规范性,实际上假定了"凡是现实的就是合理的"。然而,凡是现实的未必就是合理的。由于现实和传统无法说明美德规范的合理性,又由于他对西方启蒙时期以来的理性持排斥态度,为了说明美德规范的合理性,他最终不得不求助于上帝,走向了神学的托马斯主义。

Alasdair Maclntyre's account of the nature of the virtues is a major part of his virtue ethics in his After Virtue.A virtue is supposed to be a normative concept(also a thick concept,of course).However,Maclntyre's account is actually empirical and descriptive.He defines the virtues and their normativity in terms of 'practice', 'narrative form of human life',and 'tradition'.In fact he presupposes that 'All that is real is rational'.However,not all that is real is rational.Since he is unable to explain the rationality of the virtue norms merely by appeal to reality and tradition,and since he has rejected the notion of reason in the Enlightenment,he cannot but appeal to God and becomes a religiously Thomistic philosopher.