The Tasks of Philosophy: Volume 1
Selected Essays

In this volume, first published in 2006, Alasdair MacIntyre examines some fundamental philosophical questions in this first of two volumes of selected essays.

Alasdair MacIntyre (Author)

9780521854375, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 June 2006

246 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

'… as crisp and coruscating as everything else he writes …' Prospect

How should we respond when some of our basic beliefs are put into question? What makes a human body distinctively human? Why is truth an important good? These are among the questions explored in this 2006 collection of essays by Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the most creative and influential philosophers working today. Ten of MacIntyre's most influential essays written over almost thirty years are collected together here for the first time. They range over such topics as the issues raised by different types of relativism, what it is about human beings that cannot be understood by the natural sciences, the relationship between the ends of life and the ends of philosophical writing, and the relationship of moral philosophy to contemporary social practice. They will appeal to a wide range of readers across philosophy and especially in moral philosophy, political philosophy, and theology.

Introduction
Part I. Defining a Philosophical Stance: 1. Epistemological crises, dramatic narrative and the philosophy of science
2. Colors, cultures, and practices
3. Moral relativism, truth and justification
4. Hegel on faces and skulls
5. What is a human body?
6. Moral philosophy and contemporary social practice: what holds them apart?
Part II. The Ends of Philosophical Enquiry: 7. The ends of life, the ends of philosophical writing
8. First principles, final ends and contemporary philosophical issues
9. Philosophy recalled to its tasks: a Thomistic reading of Fides et Ratio
10. Truth as a good: a reflection on Fides et Ratio.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy of religion [HRAB], Social & political philosophy [HPS], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF]