Mac Intyre's Viewpoint on Western Culture and Thought

Document Type : علمی پژوهشی

Author

• Nafīsa Sāṭi‘

10.22067/philosophy.v41i1.3178

Abstract

Mac Intyre believes that the history of the western culture and thought is analyzable in two different lines, so that the modern intellect is a free and liberated and thus wandering intellect that has not found its way to a strengthened and dignified thinking, and the pre-modern intellect is a theological one intertwined with excellence and committed to tradition. The pre-modern rational thought and tradition have constantly developed within a historical dialectic; and each tradition, recognizing the defects and restrictions of its prior traditions, has sought to correct and
complete them.
Mac Intyre's main claim is that the way for the modern man to disengage from complicated problems lies in his returning to traditions and performing rationally oriented research, since the man who is separated from tradition and history and lacking moral excellences can not be wise, just as an individual can not enjoy moral excellences without society and intellect. In order to prove these claims, he goes on to mention historical evidences in his own philosophical analysis, which is dealt with in this article.
Keywords: tradition, history, society, rationality, excellence.

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