After Virtue

MacIntyre argues that modern moral discourse became fragmented because we inherited concepts like justice, virtue, and rights after losing the older traditions that originally gave them meaning. People still use the same moral language, but no longer share a common understanding of what a good life is, what human flourishing means, or what virtues are grounded in, which is why moral debates today often feel endless and unresolved.

Alasdair MacIntyre (1929–2025) was a Scottish-American moral philosopher. After Virtue is the central text of the modern revival of virtue ethics.