Gonzalo Pisabarro García

Paul el Khoury Álvarez

Alexia Vázquez Orgaz

ALASDAIR MACINTYRE – SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP, PRACTICAL

REASONING, COMMON GODS AND INDIVIDUAL GODS.

Alasdair Macintyre was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 12, 1929. He is a

philosopher primarily known for his contributions to moral and political philosophy.
 
To develop the idea of Alasdair, I would like to start with the basis that man within
society is a rational and independent thinker, as he is supported by all the people around
him.  
In this network of relationships that we are building, we are always receiving
knowledge and knowledge that we should pass on to the next generations so that these
are maintained. 

The problem we have with the debt, is that most times when we must return it the
person who has provided us with the knowledge and initial knowledge usually stops
being... which is why the debt must be passed on to the next generation.
It can also be the case of people who do not receive.

These people could spread and pass on from generation to generation or from word of
mouth some ideas that really are not those that correspond to society. 

These people must urgently be provided with the "dose" of care that they have not been
able to have, because otherwise they might not become part of the community and in
addition to that corrupt it, as well as the people who are part of it. 

This "non-recognition of debt" can take us down two paths: a lack of individual
morality and a bad social relationship. No matter how sophisticated a relationship
system is, it does not guarantee that society and individuals can develop in a healthy
way and as they should.

For MacIntyre, one of the main characteristics of the human condition is to find
ourselves occupying a social position which includes institutionalized networks of
giving and receiving with a hierarchy of unequal distribution of power. It means that all
kinds of relationships (family, school, work, etc.) are associated with domination and
deprivation and often creates rules that govern social structures of authority. These rules
may not be defined as unique, and several systems may coexist in the same society and
context or one of them could be subordinated to the other.

Based on Aristotle’s philosophy, MacIntyre understands that practical deliberation is

focused on the means and not on the ends, and the actions are means on the
achievement on some end that constitute a whole. It means that giving and receiving are
performed as constitutive actions of a way of life.

Giving and receiving could be disproportionate and it doesn’t mean that I am going to
receive  from the ones that I have given to. Those who are not independent practical
reasoners are the ones who are going to benefit more from the communal flourishing, I
mean the young, the old and the sick, and their individual goods will be bound up to the
flourishing of the community. 

What makes an individual an individual is that he must find out why he must live in
community and what that entails through personal experience and then onward must
decides what kinds of relationships he wishes to partake in always within moral
parameters to avoid the corrution of the social cell he lives in and in consideration of
those less fortunate.