Revolutionary Aristotelianism and Ideology: MacIntyre on Practical Reason and Virtue

How does ideology function and, more importantly, can philosophy help us resist ideological subjugation?

Egidijus Mardosas answers these questions by applying the philosophical resources of Revolutionary Aristotelianism: a recent approach in social philosophy that takes inspiration from the Aristotelian works of Alasdair MacIntyre.

In particular, Mardosas focuses on the Aristotelian and Macintyrian notions of practical reason (phronesis) and virtue. To be a successful practical agent, he explains, is to reach for genuine human goods and resist all forms of ideological subjection. And our virtues are the intellectual and moral powers that can help us in this task. Considering which virtues to practise, this book examines the qualities of truthfulness, comradeship, courage, and justice and uncovers how all four virtues are key, in differing ways, to sustaining our practical agency in the face of ideological manipulation.

Bringing together ethics, social philosophy, and Aristotle via MacIntyre, as well as key thinkers from Gramsci to Honneth, Revolutionary Aristotelianism and Ideology provides an urgent investigation into the necessity and virtues of social struggle.

Egidijus Mardosas is Research Fellow in Philosophy at Vilnius University and Research Fellow at the Centre for Aristotelian Studies and Critical Studies at Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania.