Moral Progress: A Process Critique of MacIntyre(SUNY series in Philosophy)

Argues that in order to reinvigorate our moral inheritances we must endeavor not only to live well, but also to live better.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Emotivist Challenge MacIntyre's Alternative: The Virtue Tradition The Enlightenment Legacy The Thomist Synthesis The Rationality of Traditions 2. MacIntyre on Moral Traditions Virtue Traditions: Ancient and Modern Perspectivism and Practical Enquiry 3. Traditions of Enquiry: A Whiteheadian Alternative Speculative and Practical Reason Practical Reasoning and Aesthetic Order 4. Perspectivism and Practical Truths Tradition and Geneology Traditions: Past, Present, and Future Tradition and Adventure 5. Whitehead's Aesthetic Teleology Matters Metaphysical 6. Perspectivism and the Limits of Practical Enquiry Perspectivism and Practical Truth Perspectivism and Practical Progress Practical Rationalities and the Aesthetic Teleology 7. Practical Enquiries The Virtues of Traditions Moral Truths and Moral Progress Conclusion: Practical Rationalities Practical Traditions and Practical Truths Practical Rationalities and the Emotivist Challenge Practical Enquiries and Practical Progress Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Lisa Bellantoni is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Quincy University.

Review :
"This book provides an intelligent and vigorous account of Whitehead's conception of the advance of reason as it impacts upon moral enquiry. The author gives a very clear appraisal (often clearer than Whitehead's own account) of his understanding of the history of ideas as grounded in a naturally evolving cosmic play of forces in the midst of which practical reason emerges as just another (albeit a particularly important) feature of the emergent structure of the cosmos. Bellantoni locates this affirmation of Whitehead's view by means of a critique of MacIntyre's insistence upon a univocal tradition which I believe she quite successfully shows to be internally inconsistent. She argues that Whitehead's view provides a foundation for serious moral evaluation while at the same time allowing for a productive dialogue amongst varying traditions-a dialogue which MacIntyre's view abjures while ironically relying upon just such a dialogue for its own intelligibility." - Brian John Martine, author of Indeterminacy and Intelligibility "What I like most about this book is its general project-to present a viable Whiteheadian contribution to those contemporary discussions of ethics influenced by the work of MacIntyre. Bellantoni is a clear thinker, which is important in melding two such diverse philosophical standpoints. This book will be of significant interest to the growing number of process thinkers trying to make the difficult application of Whitehead's metaphysics to contemporary social and political thought." - Judith A. Jones, author of Intensity: An Essay in Whiteheadian Ontology