Life and Works

of Modern
Philosophers
By: Group 2
Alasdair MacIntyre
• Scottish-American philosopher
• Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre
• January 12, 1929 in Glasgow, Scotland (age 93 years)

one of the great moral thinkers of the late 20th and early

21st centuries, well known for reintroducing Aristotelian
ethics and politics into mainstream philosophy and for
emphasizing the role of history in philosophical theorizing.
Alasdair
MacIntyre
• Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre has made contributions to • Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings
the history of theology and philosophy as well as moral Need the Virtues (1999), his work compares humans
and political philosophy. One of the his most to other intelligent animals, drawing conclusions
significant contributions to English moral and political about human social life and our treatment of those
philosophy in the 20th century is MacIntyre's After whom it argues we should no longer call disabled. It
Virtue (1981). shows that humans are independent but they are
• He holds the positions of Senior Research Fellow at the
also dependent animals who must learn in order to
Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics
stay independent.
and Politics (CASEP), MacIntyre received a bachelor’s
• After Virtue (1981), MacIntyre's best-known work, is
degree in classics from the University of London (1949)
a book on moral philosophy which provides a bleak
and master’s degrees in philosophy from Manchester
view of the state of modern moral discussion,
University (1951) and the University of Oxford (1961).
regarding it as failing to be reasonable, and refuses
• MacIntyre emphasizes the importance of moral goods
to acknowledge its irrationality He cites Aristotle's
defined in respect to a community engaged in a
'practice’ which he calls 'internal goods' or 'goods of
moral philosophy as an example and believes that
excellence’ rather than focusing on practice earlier forms of moral speech were in better shape.
independent obligation of a moral owner’s. His approach
seeks to demonstrate that good judgment emanates
from good character.
Simon Blackburn
• English Philosopher
• July 12, 1944 in Chipping Sodbury, England (age 78
years)

• is an English academic philosopher known for his work in

metaethics, where he defends quasi-realism, and in the
philosophy of language; more recently, he has gained a
large general audience from his efforts to popularize
philosophy.
Simon
Blackburn
• He attended Clifton College and afterwards
graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, with a
bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1965. In 1969,
he graduated with a degree from Churchill College
in Cambridge.
• A respected research professor of philosophy at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he
continues to lecture there every fall semester
despite having retired from his position as
professor of philosophy at the University of
Cambridge in 2011. Additionally, he is a professor
at New College of the Humanities and a Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge. Formerly an Oxford
University Fellow.
• He is best known in philosophy as a supporter of
neo- Humean ideas on a variety of subjects and
as a proponent of quasi-realism in meta-ethics.
The quasi-realist is a person who holds an anti-
realist metaphysical position but attempts to gain
the right for moral discourse to enjoy all the perks
of realism speech by philosophical manoeuvring.
• The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, written by
Blackburn, was released in 2008. Mirror, Mirror:
The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love, written by
Blackburn in 2014, focuses on numerous
philosophical facets of self-love. It explores
contemporary expressions of pride, amour-
propre, integrity, and self-esteem using a variety
of philosophical frameworks and ideas.
Thank you