ABSTRACT
In his renowned work, After Virtue, the noted twentieth-century Scottish ethicist, Alasdair MacIntyre, oered the analogy of a child learning to play chess as a way of reecting on the nature of virtuous behavior and the potential goods it produces. In so doing, MacIntyre focused his attention on the learning process and on the role of incentives for determining the character of success. Significantly, the hypothetical scenario he developed does not distinguish cognitive from ethical development. Rather, both are embedded in the overall exchange. Motives for participation in the game emerge, but remain mostly grounded in narrow self-interest.
