ABSTRACT
Alasdair MacIntyre narrates the history of Western philosophy according to the ascension and decline of a robust ethical tradition that reached its apex in medieval Thomistic thought but began to crumble after Enlightenment thinkers tried (and failed) to establish a new foundation for morality based on reason alone. MacIntyre presents Kierkegaard as the first philosopher who correctly diagnoses the current crisis in moral philosophy but nonetheless embraces its implications. Peter Mehl begins the volume by arguing how Kierkegaard’s work defines human beings as the types of beings who must respond to moral-spiritual needs that naturally arise within human experience. Criterionless choice is not the only problem, however. Norman Lillegard and Jeffrey Turner offer reflections on how agents fall into self-deception, a problem for both Kierkegaard and MacIntyre.
