Book of Abstracts

UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF IOANNINA
SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy,
Education and Psychology Education and Psychology
SECTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SECTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

International Society for MacIntyrean Enquiry (ISME)
8
th
Annual Conference

Tradition, Modernity,
and Beyond

BOOK OF ABS TRAC TS

Athens, 912 July 2014

Main Building,
National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

Edited by Panagiota G. Sioula

University of Ioannina, Department of Philosophy, Education & Psychology,
Sector of Philosophy, 2014

Cover illustration: Nikos Eggonopoulos (1910-1985), Poet and philosopher
(1958), oil on canvas 92x73 cm, Collection of the National
Bank of Greece
Academic Conveners

Jeffery Nicholas, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Providence Col-
lege, USA) Executive Secretary ISME
Eleni Leontsini, Lecturer in Philosophy (University of Ioannina,
Greece), ISME Member

Local Organizing Committee

Eleni Leontsini, Lecturer in Philosophy (University of Ioannina)
Golfo Maggini, Associate Professor of Philosophy (University of
Ioannina)
Panagiotis Pantazakos, Associate Professor of Philosophy (National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Konstantinos Petsios, Head of the Department of Philosophy,
Education and Psychology, Professor of Philosophy (University of
Ioannina)
Maria Pournari, Associate Professor of Philosophy (University of
Ioannina)

Local Scientific Committee

Athanasia Glycofrydi-Leontsini, Emerita Professor of Philosophy
(National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Stephanos Dimitriou, Associate Professor of Philosophy (University
of Ioannina)
Dionysis Drosos, Professor of Philosophy (University of Ioannina)
Ioannis Kalogerakos, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (National
Evangelia Maragianou, Professor of Philosophy (National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens)
Panagiotis Noutsos, Head of the Sector of Philosophy, Professor
of Philosophy (University of Ioannina)
Theodosius Pelegrinis, Rector, Professor of Philosophy (National
Yannis Prelorentzos, Professor of Philosophy (University of Ioan-
nina)

Secret ari at

Heads of Secretariat
Assistants to the Local Organizing Committee

Panagiota G. Sioula (Philologist, MA in Education, Administrative-
Financial Stuff, University of Ioannina)
Panagiotis Tsolias (Journalist, MA in Philosophy, PhD Candidate in
Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)

Members
Postgraduate Students

[Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, National and Kapodi-
strian University of Athens]
Alkmini Daskalaki, MA Candidate in Philosophy
Eva Karageorgi, MA Candidate in Philosophy
Sarantos Kopelos, MA Candidate in Philosophy
Ioannis Mantzaris, PhD Candidate in Philosophy
Theoni Mougiou, PhD Candidate in Philosophy
Maria Paltzi, PhD Candidate in Philosophy
Andronikos Sarlakis, MA Candidate in Philosophy
Ioannis Spyralatos, PhD Candidate in Philosophy

Undergraduate Students

[Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, University of Ioannina]
Matilda Bouna
Vicky Karadema
Dimitris Karathanassis
Yiota Koukouvinou
Anastasia Siatou
Rafaela Tossiou

ABS TRAC TS
BOOK OF ABSTRACTS 11
Beadle Ron

Craft Consciousness:
Resisting Modernity in the Name of Practice

Alasdair MacIntyre maintains both that practices require institutions for their sus-
tenance and improvement and that the pursuit of external goods by institutions
represents an on-going threat to the integrity of practices (MacIntyre 2007: 194).
It follows that practitioners should participate in the politics of their institutions in
a way which both requires and develops the virtues as:
The virtues which we need in order to achieve both our own
goods and the goods of others only function as genuine virtues
when their exercise is informed by awareness of how power is dis-
tributed and of the corruptions to which its use is liable. Here as
elsewhere in our lives we have to learn how to live both with and
against the realities of power. (MacIntyre 1999, p. 102)
There are a number of preconditions for engaging in such institutional politics well
and in this paper I will explore the pivotal role of what I will call craft conscious-
ness. The paper will model this concept as requiring (i) identification of the goods
internal to a particular practice (ii) according an appropriate valuation to the pur-
suit of these goods in the context of others and (iii) awareness of both the succor
and the threat that institutions pose to practices.
I will argue that those practitioners who are armed with such consciousness
are better to equipped to engage in the work of both constructing and conflicting
with institutions than others. To make this case the paper will use a range of illu-
strations of living with and against the realities of power. In particular it will draw
on evidence of the developing consciousness and political activism of circus artists
in the protection of their craft and community.

*****

BieIskis Andrius

Structures of Meaning:
A Neo-Aristotelian Re-articulation of the Question
of the Meaning of Being

This paper is a part of a bigger philosophical project on the meaningfulness of hu-
man practices and activities which give shape and meaning to human lives. The
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: MODERNITY, TRADITION AND BEYOND 12
papers underlying presupposition is inspired by Alasdair MacIntyres philosophical
project of After Virtue: namely that human life, our quest for meaning should be
understood and philosophically articulated in terms of Aristotelian teleology. Thus
Martin Heideggers project Sein und Zeit, the project of posing the question of the
meaning of being, despite its magnitude and seriousness, should be rearticulated
in terms of the Neo-Aristotelian conception of structures of meaning. The paper
will aim to articulate the conception of structures of meaning drawing its parallel
with MacIntyres notion of practice.

*****

Boukouras Efstathios
Tassopoulou Maria

Towards a New Paradigm:
Deconstructing Modernism and Post-Modernism
Through Thomas Kuhn

Modernism refers to modern views, thought and practice and arose as a reaction
to the conservative values of tradition as a whole; a set of ideas that encompasses
the beliefs and practices of those who felt that "traditional" forms of art, architec-
ture, literature and social organization were detached from reality and outdated.
Ideas and ideologies emerged rapidly, often conflicting with each other, in order to
explain the new world and finally [re]shape it to a new timeless and ecumenical
form. The modern world is more a complex of ideas, which, unlike any preceding
culture, prefers to reside in the future, rather than the present.
The acceptance of Modernism may reveal the two different components in
the heart of the movement; the elitism that artists, philosophers and architects
produce through their work versus their effort to recommend a more viable socie-
ty, one that apply more to human needs. The failure of convergence of these two
ideal situations testifies a flaw in the movement. The convergent and not the di-
vergent thought is the prerequisite to radical changes to the core of the modern
thought.
Thomas Kuhn descripted such radical changes in history as a paradigm shift.
Kuhn observes that progress occurs only when the previous state of affairs is
abandoned and surpassed by new one. During this shift, paradigm meanings and
axioms, transform in such level that we can no longer rationally connect the two
theories. A change requires the crisis and presupposes the deconstruction of exist-
ing ideas. Given that we are in the middle of gushing changes at both social and
moral field it is safe to assume that we live the Kuhns stage of crisis. However,
there is not yet a revolution that will produce the upcoming. Post-modernism so
far has failed to distinguish enough, to become something more than what is not
Modern. In general, it consists of extreme diverse and dissimilar conceptual
structures that so far not seem to bear sufficient dynamic to produce a compelling
framework, a new paradigm. Deconstructionism as a philosophical movement ful-
fills the intellectual reaction towards modern rationality and defines the very limits
of Postmodernism itself.
Accepting Aristotles theory of , i.e. the need to achieve the true
understanding of objects, we ought to form new theories that fit best reality. Un-
derstanding crisis as a world without cohesion, as a language without syntax, we
seek the new paradigm, as the common language that signifies the transition into
a new world.

*****

Calvert Anita

The Virtue of Courage
In the Philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre

Aim of this research is in understanding the contemporary virtue of courage. The
general outline of Alasdair MacIntyres virtue ethics and philosophy of work will
represent a fundamental theoretical framework for analysing the content of the
concept of courage and defining the conditions of courageous action. Alasdair
MacIntyre provides a new scheme and specifically defines the key requirements to
achieve any virtue: practice, narrative unity and tradition, insofar each of them
assumes following of a certain goods (goods of practices, good which unifies the
narratives of personal lives, goods of tradition). Therefore, courageous actor gains
its clear orientation and justification of his/hers actions.
In analogy with MacIntyres analysis of the virtue of justice in the book Whose
justice, which rationality? it might be noteworthy to try to understand another
fundamental virtue as courage in different traditions (Aristotelian, Thomistic,
Humean...Liberalism). As tradition could not survive without the disciplining the
virtue of courage in its practices, so the practises, as well as the unity of the per-
sonal life narratives depend on courageous habitus.
Although MacIntyre gives explicate but short definition of courage as ability
to endure and ability to confront the harms in the book Whose justice, which ra-
tionality? in these arguments will be presented that the second definition of (any)
'virtue' in the book After virtue describes even more closely what the courage is
(and even more than any other virtue). In his numerous papers one can find a
fruitful inspiration for a thoughts about the courage, but here it will be also, par-
ticularly emphasized the understanding of courage in relation to more profound
understanding of virtue in the book Dependent, rational animals. Hence, courage
can be interpreted only as an individual act based on an independent reasoning
and acknowledge dependence on others, whereas the sources of courageous ac-
tions are concerns for others. With that we will make a space for discussion on
how those concerns relate to the persons ability to confront and endure the
harms in order to achieve the goods of excellence in the practices of community or
how they can be consistent with our own ends and endings.

*****

Christian Richard

A MacIntyrean Account of Authenticity

Recent work in the human enhancement debate has revived discussion of the con-
cept of authenticity. Authenticity is taken to be a central human virtue which is
potentially under threat by certain forms of cognitive-enhancement such as mem-
ory editing and memory improvement. More generally, the concept of authenticity
has been invoked in the shift away from substantive conceptions of welfare in eth-
ics: a worthwhile life might thus be given a formal account in terms of the self-
consciously free and independent authorship of the values that guide ones life, or
in the integrity of so acting that ones action is consonant with the value-set one
endorses, or with whatever it is that constitutes one's 'true self'. While the former
provided the thrust of the existentialist ethic for Heidegger and Sartre, the latter
has been central to more recent analytic conceptions. Authenticity was also cen-
tral to Bernard Williams critique of consequentialism.
In this paper I show that there are problems for all existing accounts of au-
thenticity: in various ways all accounts fail to give proper place to the importance
of community-embeddedness and recognition. I argue that must draw on the con-
cepts of practices and public reasoning and recognition developed by MacIntyre to
develop a communitarian account of authenticity. Central to an understanding of
authenticity is the role of recognition. Essential to being a certain kind of person is
being recognised as such: it is having ones actions and achievements indepen-
dently verified against the objective standards that are internal to the practice or
community within which one participates, and that embodies the values that one
wishes to realise in life. The kind of person someone wishes to be, and the values
they choose partly constitute their private identity. The question of whether they
are such people, of whether the public identities they forge in the totality of their
acts and achievements are consonant with those values, is a question that will be
settled through a process of dialogue and rationalisation, and by the independent
public judgement of competent members of those practices. To establish whether
a life is authentic, an agents actions must be submitted to the test of public rea-
son over their consonance with the agents declared values. On a MacIntyrean
account, Authenticity is not pace Sartre etc. about independence from the pres-
sures social life, it is rather a matter of opening up ones values and actions to pub-
lic scrutiny.

*****

Chu Irene

How a Confucian Tradition
Influences the Impact of Modernity in Taiwan

Whereas MacIntyres concept of tradition emphasises the stabilising nature of his-
torical and social contexts, the concept of modernity can be argued to highlight
the impact of change. Using a three-pillar framework of the institutional environ-
ment, proposed by Scott (2014), this paper investigates whether concepts from
Institutional theory can assist in the analysis of the tension between tradition and
change. Scotts regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive pillars provide a
framework which can be used to explore the forces on institutions, and the author
contends that, in this way, the historical and social contexts embodied by tradition
can be investigated. These pillars are not distinct, but rather form a continuum so
that tradition can be argued to be comprised of more apparent elements from the
regulative and normative pillars across to more unconscious elements from the
cultural-cognitive pillar. Furthermore, the role played by change can then also be
allowed for and contending institutional logics can be examined. In order to pro-
vide examples, the authors current doctoral research on organizational virtue in
Taiwan is used to consider how a Confucian tradition has interacted with the im-
pact of change. The deep-rooted nature of this relationship-based tradition, which
emphasises collectivism, harmony, the doctrine of the mean, filial piety and a hier-
archical order, results in a relatively stable social structure which is at the same
time open to economic change. Using comparisons between Taiwan and other
countries, aspects of the institutional environment, including historical and social
factors, are shown to contribute to a uniquely Taiwanese tradition. This tradition
plays an important part in shaping the environment in which organisational agents
react to aspects of modernity and so reinforces theories of divergent capitalism.
*****
Concu Nicoletta

Is MacIntyres Philosophy a Kind of Realism?

The MacIntyres reply to the failure of the Enlightenment project has been labeled
itself as a form of relativism by a good part of his critics. This point seems shared
both by English and Italian critics. According to this issue, if the MacIntyres aim
was to find a solution to the failure of the Enlightenment project, the he would
have failed. He would not reply carefully to relativism and perspectivism. He would
not be able to build a convincing theory that escapes relativism and perspectivism,
the protagonist of post-Enlightenment (WJWR, p. 353), but he would be a rela-
tivist thinker.
Now the point is to show how it is possible to avoid this vicious circle. MacIn-
tyre exhibits and faces this issue in Whose Justice? Which Rationality?. He is fully
aware that his inquiry method and the theory on which that method is grounded
have to overcome both the relativist challenge and the perspectivist challenge,
that represent the only possible alternative since the Enlightenment conceptions
of truth and rationality cannot be sustained (WJWR, p.353). To answer the rela-
tivist and perspectivist challenges MacIntyre, on his later writings, appeals to
Thomisms synthesis that allows to overcome the failures of modernity. By this
token, he develops a concept of tradition as an intellectual inquiry, as a back-
ground within which it is possible to explain the authentic meaning of the corres-
pondence theory of truth where the first principles that lead the intellectual in-
quiry have got a capital role.
The MacIntyres effort is thereby to connect his historical inquiry with the
Thomisms metaphysics. It would seem then that MacIntyres philosophy can place
within the realism position that it has developed as reaction to post-modernity.

*****

Costanzo M. Jason

Methodology, Ontology and Morality

Within this essay and presentation I offer a contemporary examination of the me-
thodological affinities that holds between ontology and moral science through
consideration and reinterpretation of the concept of convertibility as first con-
ceived within the ethical works of Aristotle and later among the medieval scholas-
tics. According to this view, to say that x is and x is good is to assert not a real
but only a conceptual distinction inasmuch as both terms are mutually interchan-
geable (convertible) with respect to the subject itself. Following this, I consider
whether convertibility implies merely a formal, terminological relationship, or else
whether there are not more fundamental methodological affinities that result
from this relationship. A number of questions result: First, what is the relationship
between being and the good classically construed? Second, in broader terms, what
is the methodological contribution of ontology to moral science? Third, what is the
contribution of moral science to ontology? Finally, do these more specific metho-
dological affinities point to a broader methodological unity at ground to the whole
of human knowledge as such? As will be discussed, although the scholastic notion
of convertibility offers a number of interesting insights into the formal structure of
that which is, it nonetheless conceals, while offering a hint toward, a more funda-
mental methodological unity that awaits further examination. This relationship is
analyzed and the deeper interconnections at ground to ontology, moral science
and indeed the whole of human knowledge as such is brought forth for initial con-
sideration.

*****

Devine Philip

Politics After MacIntyre

MacIntyre is known for his root-and-branch rejection of liberalism (which includes
many the political philosophies called conservative), he synthesizes Left and Right
critiques of liberalism. I trace the background of MacIntyres position, and ask
what the practical consequences of its acceptance might be. I conclude that Ma-
cIntyre requires a form of liberalism, to protect the communities of virtue he ad-
vocates against interference by other communities and the secular state.

*****

Dini Rastislav

MacIntyre, Rawls and Cavell on Games,
Rules and Practices

John Rawls and Alasdair Macintyre are usually represented as two opposing fig-
ures in the now famous dispute between liberals and communitarians, and for a
good reason MacIntyre has criticized Rawls in several of his most important
works, as a typical representative of modern liberal thought. In my paper, howev-
er, I intend to look at the two thinkers from a different angle, especially in regards
of their view of practices, rules and games. In order to do that I will (following Ste-
phen Mulhall and Peter Dula) introduce another interlocutor into their conversa-
tion American philosopher Stanley Cavell. As I will show, Cavells influential criti-
cism of Rawls influential early paper, Two Concepts of Rules, in his book A Claim
of Reason, in many respects resembles MacIntyres critique of Rawls like MacIn-
tyre, Cavell points out the formal or contractual character in which Rawls thinks
about morality, and situates this way of thinking in the terms of rationalization of
modern society and the domination of Gesellschaft over Gemeinschaft. But unlike
MacIntyre, he does not think that the solution to this ailment lies in returning to
more substantial forms of community, rather in recognizing a different form of
rationality that applies to morality one that allows for reasonable disagreement
and focuses on taking responsibility for ones position in a moral dispute. One of
the most important targets of his criticism is Rawls comparison of moral practices,
such as promising, to games, such as baseball. This line of criticism, however, ap-
plies not only to Rawls, but also to MacIntyre (and has actually been put in some-
what similar terms, by Martha Nussbaum, in her review of Whose Justice? Which
Rationality? ). In a passage from WJWR, MacIntyre approvingly describes the Aris-
totelian conception of rational agency, by comparing a rational agent to a hockey
player in the closing seconds of a crucial game has an opportunity to pass to
another member of his or her team better placed to score a needed goal. Neces-
sarily, we may say, if he or she has perceived and judged the situation accurately,
he or she must immediately pass. But, according to Cavell this kind of equating of
moral life with clearly and unambiguously structured practices such as games, is a
mistake, and exactly the kind of mistake Rawls is guilty of. As I intend to show,
there are some problems and incoherencies in MacIntyres conception (particular-
ly regarding the situation of the modern, homeless, or rather traditionless in-
dividual) which might be resolved by Cavells conception of rational moral disa-
greement.

*****
Erinakis Nikolaos

The Conflict of Autonomy and Authenticity
and their Different Roles in our Moral Thought

Contemporary theories of autonomy either do not distinguish between authentici-
ty and autonomy or else they consider the former a necessary condition for the
latter. Some of the most crucial problems that are raised regarding the concepts of
authenticity and autonomy come from the fact that we have not paid enough at-
tention to the distinction between them and to the different role that each of
them plays in regard to ourselves. It is my view that not only autonomy should not
be equated with authenticity, but also the latter should not operate as a necessary
condition for the former, since in many cases they directly conflict. In this paper I
focus on discussing different types of conflicts, i.e. conflicts between different au-
thentic attitudes and conflicts between authenticity and autonomy. I begin by un-
derlying that authenticity may be irrelevant or even conflicting to autonomy and
that autonomy needs to be understood in its own terms. I argue that autonomy is
a normative concept, which should be used for regulating permissible and imper-
missible actions, while authenticity is a descriptive concept, which nevertheless is
morally good. Thus, based on the distinction between the ideas of Right and Good,
I maintain that the promotion of authenticity is morally good, while respect for
autonomy is morally right. While I explore autonomy as a constraint in the pursuit
of authenticity by discussing case studies in Bioethics, I conclude that in the major-
ity of the cases, we should respect the autonomous decision even if it goes against
the authentic one. Nevertheless, I also explore in depth the notion of authenticity
in the cases of non-autonomous patients. My account intends to help and propose
how to treat people that even though may not be competent for autonomy, they
may be authentic. I examine in which cases we should respect in terms of regula-
tion the autonomous desire, decision or action of a person, despite the fact that
her authentic one might be different and in which we should not. However, I claim
that the ideal society would be one in which the autonomous attitudes are
equated with the authentic attitudes and thus we should aim at developing social
structures that promote authenticity, since a good and flourishing human life is
one that is to some extent authentic.

*****

Erkan Balci Elif Nur

MacIntyres Hume:
A Critique for Morality in Modern Thought

David Hume is known as a central philosophical figure in transition to modernity.
He, as a philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, re-formulated the philosophy
of morality, detaching the reason from the sphere of morality, and laid the foun-
dations of an emotion-based morality. With the words of MacIntyre, as a decisive
critic of Enlightenment and Modernity, Hume repudiates a religious foundation
for morality and puts in its place a foundation in human needs, interests, desires,
and happiness (Is/Ought, p. 464).This new moral sketch also established a frame-
work for the morality of modernity. As a strong critique of modernity and its con-
ception of morality, MacIntyre makes Hume a central villain in his narrative of
problems in attempts to seek a ground for ethics in the individual.
For MacIntyre, Humes problem, like other leading modern thinkers seeking
rational principles for human behavior, is to explain morality with a reference to
passions of individual. David Hume insists that there is nothing to judgments of
virtue and vice except the expression of feelings of approval and disapproval (Af-
ter Virtue, p. 268). By arguing this, Hume denies any external criteria out of indi-
viduals own desires, interests, and needs for moral judgments. According to Ma-
cIntyre, this understanding of morality is a corrupt and failed project and Hume is
one of the most valuable figures in this moral devolution. In this regard, MacIntyre
constructs his understanding of morality upon the criticism of Hume. For that rea-
son, to understand Hume properly is crucial for MacIntyre.
This paper has two aims: First is to describe the views of Hume on morality
and his departure points from Aristotelian morality such as re-definition of prac-
tical reasoning and re-definition of virtue. Second is to clarify that how and on
what bases MacIntyre criticizes Hume. These can provide us an explicit picture of
MacIntyres Hume in particular and his criticism of Enlightenment in general.

*****

Fattah Ahmad

Is There a Tension Between MacIntyres Position
as a Thomist and his Historical Account
of Tradition-guided Moral Inquiry?

In this paper I will examine MacIntyres account of the development in moral phi-
losophy as grounded in a tradition of inquiry, a view that is elaborated in his ma-
jor works. I analyze his account of tradition and consider whether there is some
essential tension in MacIntyres project.
I will briefly provide the background for the discussion by reviewing MacIn-
tyres project of tradition-guided moral inquiry. I will specifically look at two objec-
tions by John Haldane, which assess MacIntyres account of morality constituted in
tradition. Haldanes first criticism is (a) because MacIntyre tells us there is a fun-
damental fragmentation in the language of morality, it is not clear how this frag-
mentation allows reconciliation of our ethical conversation, and so in some sense
MacIntyres project capitulates to a form of relativism. Here MacIntyre can show
that historical progress within tradition-guided moral inquiry is possible, hence he
need not accept that his project entails the type of relativism that Haldane worries
about. Haldanes second worry derives from the first and can be roughly put this
way (b) there is an inherent tension between MacIntyres own espousal of Thom-
ism as a tradition that he supports, and his socio-historical account of tradition-
guided inquiry. The way that Haldane himself puts this second worry is that the
latter is in some sense relativist, while the former is realist and so they are incom-
patible. Taken in this form, I believe that MacIntyre can answer the objection, us-
ing different strategies that reduce the realists worries. But there is perhaps a
deeper issue here, which is harder to resolve: namely, the suitability of MacIn-
tyres Thomist revival as it stands, given that it corresponds to the particular his-
torical circumstance and social context of Aquinas and Aristotle, and its corre-
sponding conception of the polis a conception that is in significant conflict with
many features of our contemporary social context. For on the one hand MacIntyre
makes the central claim that we must understand moral philosophy and its pro-
gressive development in terms of traditions succeeding one another, and such a
moral philosophy should be sensitive to socio-historical and contingent features of
human communities; but on the other hand, the tradition he himself favours is
that of Aristotelian Thomism, which is not of our time and would seem to have
been supplanted through the process of development which he insists upon. In the
course of my assessment I will raise doubts whether MacIntyres own preference
for a revival of Thomism as a tradition can be coherent given the significant differ-
ence between our historical situation, i.e., modernity, and that of Aquinas and Ar-
istotle, i.e., the polis.
For this difficulty to be resolved, I suggest that MacIntyre can begin his in-
quiry within the tradition of Aquinas, but in order for him to complete his project
and be faithful to his own account of a tradition-guided inquiry, he needs to de-
velop a tradition that incorporates not only elements of Aristotelian and Thomistic
thought, but also one that take into account our particular socio-historical context
and contemporary philosophical discussions.

*****

Forest Denis
Grardin-Laverge Loraine

MacIntyre on the Personal Self, Narratives
and the Meaning of Community

In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre has proposed a narrative theory of personal
identity: being a person is being able to give a narrative account of one's actions.
Such a theory entails that, as Frankfurt has noted in his critique of Strawson,
persons cannot be simply defined as entities to which we can ascribe both physical
and mental properties. Concerning mental properties, what matters is not episodic
memory, as in the Lockean tradition, but rather the ability to make our past actions
intelligible to us and to others by means of a coherent narrative.
One of our aims will be to establish a dialogue between Frankfurt and
MacIntyre about personal identity. We would like to examine the following
objection to the narrative theory: there are kinds of narrative accounts of ones
actions that would not make them fully intelligible; moreover, being able to give
reasons for ones actions may not always be a sufficient condition of personhood.
In our view, this objection can be met if we make clear that, to be able to give a
genuine narrative explanation of his actions, one must be able to form what
Frankfurt calls second-order volitions. In addition, we would like to examine the
possible role of self-narratives in their relation not only with the past, but with the
simulation of ones future. Mental scenarios may be an important component of
ones reflection about what one cares about: in the construction of such scenarios,
the narrative self meets the volitional self.
Our second aim will be to reflect on the anti-individualistic component of
MacIntyres narrative theory. In Dependent Rational Animals, MacIntyre suggests
that self-knowledge should be considered as a shared achievement. A common
objection to psychological theories of personal identity is that they do not allow us
to distinguish between believing to have been X and having truly been X. With his
idea of a shared narrative space, where people can give and ask reasons for what
they do, as with his emphasis in After Virtue on conversation as an all-pervasive
feature of the human world", MacIntyre invites us to reflect on the co-construction
of self-narratives, and on the meaning of our mutual dependence.

*****

Frausto Obed

Disagreements Between the Scientist Gabino Barreda
and the Humanist Jos Maria Vigil:
Two Philosophical Traditions in Mexico
in the Interior of Escuela Nacional Preparatoria
in the Second Half of the 19
th
Century

At the opening of Escuela Nacional Preparatoria on February 3
rd
1868, the edu-
cational system inspired in the philosophy of positivism of the French Auguste
Comte was institutionalized by Gabino Barreda who had the opportunity to sit in
some classes of Comte at Palais Royale in Paris. Benito Jurez, the president of
Mexico, designated Barreda as the first director of the recently established high
school. The teaching of positivism in the high school promoted the studies of the
sciences instead of philosophy. It incorporated an empirical method in order to
understand nature and human behavior. The positivists believed in the superiority
of natural sciences over social sciences. Positivism required faith in progress and
order in society. Science and technology were taking a more important role. In-
creasingly, national states promoted technological policies which needed experts
and specialization of the scientific professions. Politics was conceived as a type of
engineering to more efficiently control human behavior in society. For that reason,
human freedom was thought as a geometrical and quantitative unity which always
has dependence on the totality. This is to say that political freedom required limits
in order to guarantee order and progress in society.
On the other hand, the humanism of Jos Mara Vigil is, in general, characte-
rized by the project of the enlightenment and republican humanism, which means
secularism, political and social rights, and multicultural equality. He believed in the
idea of a wise man that is willing to listen to the arguments of conflicting proposals
and exchange points of view. This kind of wise person has to be learned in differ-
ent subjects such as philosophy, religion, science, arts, literature, politics, history,
and ethics. This wise person recognizes the need to exercise practical judgment
which cannot be guided by rules. He recognizes that the nature of sets of rules is
that no matter how well formulated they may be, they cannot provide for all such
eventualities. This philosophical figure is called phrnesis inspired by the Aristote-
lian tradition. Politics is the best way to have more just laws. Freedom is not indi-
vidual, nor is it a geometrical unity; rather it is collective, creative, and based on
the will and on the common good and the common sense. I will explore the main
arguments of both Mexican philosophers to say that these two perspectives are
based in two different conceptions of the human being.

*****

Glezou Aikaterini

Virtue and Practices

MacIntyres approach to virtue as it unfolds in his book After Virtue (p.p.
181-225), is that virtue as an acquired human quality cannot exist outside
practices as coherent and complex forms of cooperative human activity.
Virtues and practices are interwoven in that without virtues, practices could
not achieve goods internal to them and could not also resist the corrupting
power of institutions within which they exist. Contemporary philosophers like
David Miller, Charles Taylor, Christopher Lutz have criticized MacIntyres view
of practices. In his response to criticism MacIntyre has to accept some sort
of relativism as an integral part of human condition stating that rationality is
also a practice that only offers the best possible view of the world at a
certain time.

*****

Glycofrydi-Leontsini Athanasia

Virtues and Ethics:
Thomas Aquinas Reception in Byzantium

Demetrius Cydones (c.1324-c.1397/8), chief minister of the Emperor John VI Can-
tacuzenus, was an educated layman who dominated the cultural and political life
of Byzantium in the 14
th
century. He had a profound knowledge of the Latin lan-
guage and the Greek classical heritage and through his translating activity made
possible a dynamic dialogue between the Byzantines and the Latins. He was deeply
interested in theological issues from a philosophical standpoint and was the first to
translate Thomas Aquinas major works Summa contra Gentiles and Summa theo-
logiae. After Cydones discovery of Thomas Aquinas, who seemed to him to have
a better grasp of Plato and Aristotle than did the Greeks themselves, a group of
pro-Thomists scholars was composed who were well informed about Western cul-
ture through their reading of Latin literature and their traveling to Western Europe
mostly for diplomatic and intellectual reasons. Cydones translated Aquinas ad ver-
bum with the original text of Aristotle at his side, though occasionally changes in
tenses and mood as well as periphrastic language were introduced; in this way has
provided us with an accurate and readable Greek text that clarifies Thomas Aqui-
nas major contribution towards a better understanding of Aristotles Ethics that is
well established in his Summa theologiae, especially in his Secunda Secundae in
which Aquinas discusses the three theological virtues, faith, hope and charity and
the four cardinal moral virtues, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance with
their ramifications and makes a synthesis of Aristotelian virtue ethics with the
Christian law ethics.

*****

Hogan Brendan

Imagination and the Ends of Practical Reason

Dependent Rational Animals sets forth a theory of practical reason that integrates
a deep reliance on the capacity of imagination to accomplish the ends of practical
reason. Imagination, MacIntyre argues, is the means by which our ends gain plau-
sibility and traction within a particular community. It is also the basis by which al-
ternative conceptions of ends and accounts of ones self can be fashioned and thus
is a key element in MacIntyres version of modern self-consciousness as capable of
critique in its stronger sense. This is perhaps surprising in a work responding to the
biological metaphysics of his earlier work. MacIntyres response to these criticisms
highlights the continuity of the human species with the rest of the animal king-
dom, in terms of their capacities, specifically evidence of proto-rationality. This
last move puts MacIntyre in closer company to a tradition not often associated
with MacIntyre, and one that has striking affinities with his work, pragmatism.
John Deweys account of practical reason and naturalist account of the capacities
of intelligence across species also culminates in putting imagination at the heart of
deliberation about means and ends. The models of each of these thinkers con-
verge in the centrality of developing our capacity of imagination as requisite for
living the best life possible in terms of practical reasoning. Both theories stand in
stark contrast to the rational actor model and both thinkers are hugely critical of
the reductivist character of social scientific programs informed by homo economi-
cus. Given these convergences, this paper attempts to untangle the relevant differ-
rences with respect to human agency and specifically the role of ends in practical
reasoning in a modern context. The differences notwithstanding, MacIntyre and
Dewey as well as those who use Dewey for their own models of action have far
more in common than usually recognized and stand as allies against the scientistic
and reductivistic models of the human agent in mainstream social science and
modernity more generally.

*****

Iakovou Vicky

Hannah Arendts Turn to the Past:
A Longing for Tradition or a Benjaminian Gesture?

Hannah Arendts critique of modernity and her turn to Antiquity particularly to
the Greek polis has been interpreted as a romantic escape out of modern times
(L. Ferry, A. Renaut), a kind of reluctant modernism (S. Benhabib) or a sign of a
will to elaborate a utopian ideal, totally exterior to the values animating modernity
(J.-M. Ferry). Her recourse to Ren Chars aphorism, according to which our inhe-
ritance was left to us by no testament, at the beginning of her essay entitled The
gap between past and future, is often read as expressing a longing for periods
when the chain of tradition was still intact. Such interpretations undoubtedly find
support in Arendts work itself, at the cost, however, of passing over in silence
several crucial aspects: her critique of the tradition of political thought (the tradi-
tion of political thought *+ eliminated many experiences of an earlier past The
Human Condition); her argument that the rediscovery of action and the emer-
gence of a secular public realm is part of the heritage bequeathed by the Modern
Age; and her assertion that the undeniable loss of tradition in the modern world
does not at all entail a loss of the past (What is authority?).
The main claim of this paper is that Arendt takes a critical stance towards the
idea of tradition, something which renders her turn to the past much more com-
plicated than interpretations, such as the aforementioned, are prepared to ac-
knowledge. In order to develop this claim I shall focus on Arendts essay on Walter
Benjamin.

*****

Knight Kelvin

If my thesis is correct, Kant was right:
Kant's Role within MacIntyres Critique
of the Enlightenment Project

Besides offering the classic definition and ideal of enlightenment, Immanuel Kant
is generally recognized as the culmination of the Enlightenment as an historical
event. Moreover, if his ethics is reduced to that of the Groundwork of the Meta-
physics of Morals, then he indeed seems to present the very antithesis to an Aris-
totelian, teleological ethics. It would therefore be easy to understand After Virtue
as anti-Kantian, and this would explain why Alasdair MacIntyre has not joined
those who have recently devoted great efforts to synthesize the ethics of Aristotle
and Kant. However, MacIntyre has never presented Kant as paradigmatic of the
Enlightenment project. This paper seeks to illuminate MacIntyres understanding
of Kant, and to raise the question of how, from a MacIntyrean perspective, con-
temporary Aristotelians should understand Kants historical, philosophical and po-
litical significance.

*****

Kompridis Nikolas

Crises of Intelligibility are Also Crises
in Human Relationships

Drawing on Alasdair MacIntyres Epistemological Crisis, Dramatic Narrative, and
the Philosophy of Science and on some of my own recent work on the concept of
receptivity, I outline a view of a epistemological crisis as always at the same time a
crisis in human relationships that manifests experiences of injustice. This view is
supported by MacIntyres reading of Hamlet, and my reading of J.M. Coet-
zees Elizabeth Costello.

*****

Korkut-Raptis Buket

Aristotle on Happiness and Virtuous Activities

One of the difficult topics in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is the nature of the
relationship between happiness and virtuous activities (i.e. theoretically virtuous
activity of philosophy and morally virtuous activities). In philosophical literature
there are two competing views. According to one view, happiness consists exclu-
sively in philosophical activity. This is known as the monist (or intellectualist) ac-
count of happiness. The other view holds that happiness also involves morally vir-
tuous activities. This is called the inclusivist account of happiness. Both views have
their own merits and shortcomings. In this article, I will try to suggest a compre-
hensive interpretation that can resolve the debate.

*****

Koutougkos Aris

Desires and Rationality:
Pushing Analytic Philosophy to Its Limits

Desires stand any way in the verge of rationality and irrationality so I am tempted
to begin with Kavafis realism concerning unfulfilled desires

, , ,

, .
. .

[As dead in full grace that never grew old,
put in grand mausoleum with mourning, and tears,
and roses, around the head and jasmine by the feet
desires are like that passed away
not being fulfilled; not a single one granted
a night, or glowing morning.]

This is an extreme interpretation concerning the existence of unfulfilled desires,
extreme in favor of a realism of desires, not in some vague pragmatic and/or phe-
nomenological sense, but as distinct existences (to borrow the Humean term) ne-
cessary to allow meaningful discussions of morality in general, and of akrasia in
particular of the possibility, that is, for an agent to act in full awareness against
own judgment the expression meaningful discussions, indirectly of course, re-
fers to my prejudice to consider as not particularly meaningful those discussions
that lightheartedly deal with the threats of reducing morality (via dubious expla-
nations) to rationality, to start with, and subsequently to other fields, biology,
physics, psychology, etc.
I will argue therefore in what follows about the necessity of desires in ventur-
ing for answers to leading meta-ethical questions (about akrasia, for example),
provided we care for the autonomy of morality, and (why not), surprisingly
enough, also for the meaningfulness of rationality as such!

*****

Leontsini Eleni

Alasdair MacIntyres Aristotelian Account
of Civic Friendship

In this paper, I would like to explore the communitarian notion of friendship and
to examine whether this really agrees with Aristotles analysis of friendship as pre-
sented in the Nicomachean, the Eudemian Ethics and in the Rhetoric. It should be
pointed out that, although communitarians do discuss friendship in various places
of their work, their discussions, nevertheless, do not focus on the normative no-
tion of friendship as such, but, instead, merely mention its importance in relation
to the community and the family. Also, it should be noted that no systematic dis-
cussion of the communitarian notion of friendship has so far been produced. As I
will try to demonstrate in this paper, communitarian accounts of friendship seem
to fall victim of the Aristotelian criticisms of Platos Republic on the unity of state.
More specifically, in this paper I will focus on Alasdair MacIntyres account
being the most characteristic and the most Aristotelian. MacIntyre sustains what
he claims to be an Aristotelian conception of friendship. Friendship is for him a
network of relationships that unifies a political community in virtue of a shared
conception of the good and a common project of creating and sustaining the life
of the polis. MacIntyres contrast is between a modern and an ancient conception
of friendship; he decries the weakness that he attributes to what he calls modern
friendship derived from its consignment to private life, in contrast to the social
and political friendship of the ancients. He also maligns the basis of modern
friendship in emotion and affection and regards it as, at best, that inferior form of
friendship which is founded on mutual advantage (AV: 146-147). According to
MacIntyre, it is only via the virtues of the right sort of friendship that we will be
able to cement the political bonds of the community.
Indeed, MacIntyres reading of Aristotles notion of friendship seems to be
controversial and quite different from the account of Aristotelian friendship, or
from any standard treatment of Aristotelian friendship for that matter. MacIntyre
is right to acknowledge that a community whose shared aim is the realization of
the human good presupposes a wide range of agreement in that community on
goods and virtues; it is this agreement that makes possible the kind of bond be-
tween citizens which constitutes a polis. That bond is the bond of friendship, as
MacIntyre says, and the type of friendship which Aristotle has in mind is that
which embodies a shared recognition of and pursuit of a good; it is this sharing
which is essential and primary to the constitution of any form of community,
whether that of a household or that of a city (AV: 155). MacIntyre seems to think
that in order to reconcile Aristotles notion of political friendship (taking into ac-
count the size of the population of a polis) with Aristotles assertion that one can-
not have many friends one must say that we are to think of friendship as being
the sharing of all in the common project of creating and sustaining the life of the
city, a sharing incorporated in the immediacy of an individuals particular friend-
ships (AV: 156). Friendship is a bond between the citizens by being composed of a
network of small groups of friends.

*****

Lutz Christopher

Freedom and Practical Reasoning
in the Ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre:
The Virtue of Obedience and the Virtues of the Good Life

In Chapter 16 of After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre compares the Aristotelian con-
cept of virtues as habits that support sound and effective practical reasoning to
the modern concept of virtue as a as a habit that supports obedience to moral
rules. MacIntyre defends the Aristotelian notion of virtues and criticizes the mod-
ern concept of virtue. This comparison parallels a discussion in the history of Chris-
tian Ethics that contrasts two conflicting understandings of freedom. In a land-
mark work published in 1985, Les sources de la morale chrtienne, Servais Pinck-
aers distinguishes the classical notion of freedom, which he calls freedom for ex-
cellence, from freedom of indifference, the notion of freedom that has domi-
nated Western thoughtboth Christian and secularsince the 14
th
century. In
2000, Alasdair MacIntyre praised Pinckaerss book as a study that reframed the
major controversies of late twentieth century Christian ethics.
This paper will examine Pinckaerss two definitions of freedom and consider
evidence supporting his distinction with evidence from classical and modern
sources; then it will consider MacIntyres comparison of Aristotelian virtues and
modern virtue in the light of Pinckaerss distinction. The contrast between free-
dom of indifference and freedom for excellence illuminates MacIntyres ethics
and underscores the differences between MacIntyres moral philosophy and the
claims of modern and post-modern theorists. MacIntyres philosophy proposes a
recovery of the virtues of practical reasoning in pursuit of common goods, while
rival schools of thought remain entangled in questions concerning legitimate au-
thority to demand obedience to arbitrary commands.

*****

Maggini Golfo

MacIntyres Nietzschean Anti-modernism

In his paper on Nietzsche or Aristotle? Reflections on Alasdair MacIntyres After
virtue, Richard J. Bernstein argues that the critique of the modern Enlightenment
project to which MacIntyre proceeds in his After Virtue resembles more than it
should Nietzsches genealogical unmasking of modern morality and value. He,
thus, reaches the conclusion that MacIntyres polemical arguments against mod-
ernity turns him more into Nietzsches companion more than his main enemy. In
our paper, we will delve into Bernsteins claims in favour of MacIntyres Nietz-
schean anti-modernism. Then, we will ask whether this criticism still stands for
MacIntyres treatment of Nietzschean genealogy in Three Rival Versions of Moral
Inquiry (1990) and in his more recent writings.

*****

Makris Spiros

The Concept of Tradition in Hannah Arendts Thought
and the Modern Loss of Authority

The Tradition constitutes one of the key-concepts in Hannah Arendt's thought. In
the whole of the Arendtian corpus the meaning of Tradition is synonym to the cri-
sis of modernity. Especially, the modern loss of the Tradition is closely linked with
the question of authority. Therefore, the core meaning of Tradition in Hannah
Arendt's thought is derived through the tradition of Western political philosophy.
No doubt Socrates' death haunts this great Tradition. From Plato to Marx, Hannah
Arendt points out, takes place a deep transformation of the classical republican-
ism. Man is no more an acting human being in a public realm but a vassal to a
transcendental absolute. The Greek political experience of polis and the Roman
experience of foundation lost their initial meaning, distorting the understanding of
political action between equals, or the sacred significance of the foundation of the
city, bringing to the fore of Western political philosophy the unsolvable enigma of
violence. Persuasion and authority gave way to coercion, violence and com-
mand/obedience relationship. To put the matter differently, modernity's crisis is
the modern loss of Tradition as authority. The decay of Tradition and authority,
Arendt concludes, paved the way to the rise of mass-based political ideologies and
to the twentieth century's Totalitarianism. In this paper, we shall try to highlight
Hannah Arendt's basic lines of thought concerning Tradition and authority in order
to show how the modern meaning of power gradually identified with the brute
force of Nazism. Enzo Traversos work, for instance, is a direct result of this Arend-
tian perspective.

*****

Malakos Tolis

What Moves the Intellect?
Two Different Traditions of Practical Rationality:
Aristotelian and Stoic Prohairesis and Augustinian Voluntas

In modern moral theory the concept of the will takes central stage in accounts of
practical rationality starting with Kants claim that since a good will is the only
thing that is unconditionally good, practical reason has as its end nothing other but
a good will. But reasoning according to Kant presupposes the autonomy of the will.
When reasoning about action I do not dwell on my interests and desires, subject-
ing myself to the causality of nature, but I motivate myself on the basis of reason
alone. This ability to motivate myself is called by Kant the autonomy of the will.
The notion of the autonomy of the will, even when willing is not equated with rea-
soning as in Kant, but with a voluntaristic leap based on faith as in Kierkegaard, or
a radical, groundless will to will as in Nietzsche, seems to imply that practical ra-
tionality is incapable of motivating the moral agent by itself or at all and motiva-
tion comes from a distinct faculty of the mind which has the function of moving
the agent to act.
In some respects this modern notion of the will builds upon the Augustinian
conception of the will and what Henry Frankfurt has called a second order volition,
namely a will to will something, an ability of the will to command and direct itself
as well as paradoxically to resist its own commands. As A. McIntyre claims in
Whose Justice? Which Rationality, For Augustine intellect itself needs to be
moved to activity by will. It is will which guides attention in one direction rather
than the other (p.156). Augustine seems to claim that the root cause of any ac-
tion which provides the limit to any inquiry on the causal chain of action is the will
itself, i.e. willing is a sui generis, spontaneous capacity which causes itself and
functions as an ultimate arbitrator between possible courses of action. In other
words, the supposition is that acts of will have no efficient cause other that the
will itself, and that reasoning on an action is not leading to action unless will con-
sents to it. But to the question Whence the will? or Do we really have such a
thing as a will? Augustine does not provide satisfactory answers. It seems there-
fore that the will is a fantom, an unmoved mover, which motivates the agent by
itself, introducing a ghost which haunts practical reasoning.
According to Albrecht Dihles The Theory of the Will in Classical Antiquity,
there was no conception of will in ancient philosophy, and many commentators
concur that there is no conception of will in Aristotles ethics where motivation,
moving to action, was conceived as being provided by a combination of emotional
desires and reasoning, corresponding to the two different parts of the soul which
was conceived as moving itself. Willing was considered a part of desiring and rea-
soning in the sense of Prohairesis or deciding based on such a combination, and
not in its own right.
This paper will provide a critical reading of Aristotles and Epictetus concep-
tion of Prohairesis and the Augustinian conception of Voluntas and relate these
readings to the discussion of the two traditions in Whose Justice? Which Rationali-
ty. Substantively, it will try to address the question Is there a will?.

*****

Maletta Sante

Politics and Religion in the Post-Secular Society

The major aim of this paper is to answer the following question: How can Chris-
tianity contribute to the common good? I will take the perspective of contempo-
rary social philosophy.
After defining the meaning of post-secular society from a sociological viewpoint, I
will focus on the possibility of a political theology (in the sense of Carl Schmitt)
nowadays. In Italy this question was recently discussed with effect from the cele-
brations of the 1700
th
anniversary of the Edict of Milan (313 a.D.). In this occasion
some scholars defended a perspective which can be defined as neo-Augustinian. I
will present and discuss Joseph Ratzingers version of this perspectivewhich re-
jects Schmitts political theology in favor of a political ethosin the light of the so-
called Dilemma of Bckenfrde (The free secular state lives according to presup-
positions that it cannot itself guarantee). According to Ratzinger, Augustines doc-
trine of the two cities (the divine and the human) is still helpful as on one side it
avoids any sacralization of social and political entities, while on the other side it
recognizes their own autonomy and value. To preserve this healthy dualism it is
necessary for the divine city to be present in the public realm not only through its
single members but also as a community with its own juridical institutions. From a
MacIntyrian viewpoint I will argue that a liberal state is required to take up the
challenge of the divine city if it wants to defend its own liberal nature.

*****

Mardosas Egidijus

Human Flourishing and Economic Democracy

What is the importance of economic activity for human flourishing understood in
MacIntyrean terms? Alasdair MacIntyre wrote mostly about the type of social and
political structures that are essential to human flourishing. He nevertheless has
made several remarks about the economic structures: for example, he mentioned
embedded market relationships (in Dependent Rational Animals) and that his eth-
ics should be compatible with some truth of Marxism (in particular the truths con-
cerning the nature of capitalism, the role of work under capitalism and the move-
ment of capital are mentioned in the essay Where We Were, Where We Are,
Where We Need to Be) and some other remarks.
I argue that the question of economic structures should be one of the central
concerns when trying to account for the flourishing political community and indi-
viduals. Thus the Marxist critique of capitalist economic relations cannot be dis-
carded. Commenting on MacIntyres remarks of economic structures I will also
focus on Aristotles discussion about the relation between the political and the
economical. Aristotle stressed the primacy of the political the activity of wealth
acquisition must be subjected to politics as the master science of the human
good and not to be separated and left to be pursued for its own sake. I will suggest
that we need to draw on the tradition of democratic socialism that is the tradition
of economic democracy, which could provide valuable insight to the discussion
about the role of economics for human flourishing. Modern participatory political
community must encompass democratic economic relations.

McCall Brian Michael

Finding an Ontology for Law and Legal Authority
in the Natural Law Tradition

Modern Legal Theories are at a loss to produce an ontology of law and legal au-
thority. Law is either a mere power play (Harts gunman) or a social convention.
Attempts to ground law and legal authority in consent and utilitarian theories have
failed. As a result modernity, and the last century in particular, has witnessed a
rise of the authoritarian. The Natural law tradition rooted in Aristotelian realism as
developed by Thomism offers not only an ontologically sound foundation for law
and authority but also offers an ontologically based limitation on the exercise of
legal authority. This Aristotelian/Thomist Tradition places human law within a
cosmic architecture that grounds human law as well as limits its abuse. The paper
based on research on an ongoing book length project will present an overview of
this architecture of law and the ways in which the architecture supports and con-
strains legal authority. One particular difficulty for this Tradition in a modern secu-
lar age and a source of incommensurable dialogue with secularism is the necessity
for the eternal law and hence the divine foundation of the architecture. Yet, using
MacIntyres epistemological crisis the Natural Law tradition can demonstrate to
the Liberal Secularist tradition that it better answers the questions what is law and
what restrains the abuse of legal authority than does the Liberal Secularist tradi-
tion.

*****

McMylor Peter

Going Normative in Search of an Ethical
and Radical Social Science:
A MacIntyrean Exploration of the Moral Social Science
of Andrew Sayer

For some time now the sociologist Andrew Sayer has been calling for a normative
turn in contemporary social science (A. Sayer 2005, 2011). He rightly points out
that much contemporary social science finds it hard to deal with the ethical di-
mensions of everyday life and tends to dissolve such issues into apparently subjec-
tive conceptions of values that can seem to be irrationally applied by social ac-
tors to their social contexts and frequently to be explained in instrumental terms
as merely expressions of social structural locations or on conventionalist grounds
which tends to reduce morality to norms of particular social groups. Interestingly,
however, in attempting to grasp the significance of evaluation in social activity and
to bring it back within the sphere of reason, Sayer has focussed on our human ca-
pacity for flourishing or experiencing harm and this has led him to reach out to
elements of a broadly understood Aristotelianism. This paper will explore what a
MacIntyrean approach can gain from this work and also suggest areas where
Sayers work might itself be amended and augmented in the light of MacIntyres
arguments.

*****

Mela Lia

Modernity, Postmodernity and Beyond

MacIntyres critique, focused on the problems of contemporary societies, ends up
as a broader critique of the Enlightenment Project. According to MacIntyre, this
project is best outlined in Encyclopaedia. He believes that the failure of the
Enlightenment Project, understood as the inability to replace tradition by a scien-
tific, grounded on reason, conception of the world and human society, leads to the
emergence of Genealogy. MacIntyres historical project aims, through the redisco-
very of the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of virtues, to overcome the crisis of
modernity.
The main thesis of this paper is that MacIntyres theory is itself inconceivable
except within the framework of modern, not ancient or medieval, western socie-
ties. His critique is best understood as criticism of Logical Positivism, as much as it
is perceived as the peak of the Enlightenment Project. Its collapse leads to relativ-
istic theories connected with Postmodernism, which largely follows Nietzschean
criticism. In that light, and in order to overcome the crisis of modern society, a
more moderate request for depart from the impasse, formed by both Logical Posi-
tivism and Postmodernism, may be acceptable. However, this does not imply re-
nunciation of Modernity, but rather the discovery within the Enlightenment of
those elements that can help to overcome the crisis.

*****

Moutsopoulos, Evangelos

Avant-garde and Postmodernism:
A Moral-Aesthetic Dialectic

*****

Murdoch Jr James Murray

Ideology in the Early MacIntyre

MacIntyres discussion of tradition and tradition-based enquiry has received a
great deal of attention in the literature and is one of the central points of his ma-
ture philosophical studies. Mark C. Murphy, in his 2003 edited volume of essays,
offers a provocative suggestion, namely, that ideology in the earlier work is a pre-
cursor to the mature concept of tradition. Ideology, he notes, is not purely pejora-
tive for the early MacIntyre, but rather functions in certain positive and even ne-
cessary ways for the determination of human purposes. This raises the question of
what specifically the relation might be between ideology in MacIntyres early texts
and the more mature discussions of tradition and of human nature in After Virture
and beyond. In this paper, I will examine the discussion of ideology in MacIntyres
early work, with a particular focus on Murphys suggestion. Through the lens of
certain early works, particularly Notes from the Moral Wilderness I and II, and
the 1971 text, Against the Self Images of the Age, I will argue that ideology in its
positive sense points to the necessity for articulating a certain view of the good,
much like the later discussion of tradition will do.

*****

Nicholas L. Jeffery

Disclosure, Tradition, and Substantive Reason:
Changing Paradigms in Frankfurt School
Critical Theory

In Critique and Disclosure, Nikolas Kompridis argues that critical theory needs a
paradigm shift, one that includes his notion of disclosure and intimate critique.
Disclosure seeks after, not simply truth, but disclosure of possibility for the future
in contrast to the present. In Reason, Tradition, and the Good, I too argue that crit-
ical theory needs a paradigm change, one that comes from taking tradition se-
riously and focuses on substantive reason in contrast to Habermas communicative
rationality. The question that arises is, does anything unite disclosure with subs-
tantive reason, intimate critique with tradition. In this paper, I argue that disclo-
sure, by itself, is not enough and that it must be tied to a conception of tradition
and substantive reason. I will utilize Mac Horkheimers discussion of subjective
rationality and objective reason to demonstrate that disclosure needs tradition
and substantive reason because critical theoryintimate critique of human
endsrequires a substantive construal of the good and, in turn, a conception of
human nature.

*****

ONeill Michael

Philosophical History as First Philosophy:
An Examination of MacIntyres Use of Historical Arguments

MacIntyres arguments in several of his texts relies heavily on a kind of argumenta-
tion that is historical. We see this in After Virtue Whose Justice? Which Rationali-
ty?, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry, and God, Philosophy, Universities to
give a few examples. At the same time, this form of historical argumentation is put
to uses that are not traditionally the province of history, but instead of philosophy.
In After Virtue, for instance, the conclusion of his historical analysis results in the
diagnosis of the incommensurability of the first principles of thought within libe-
ralism. This conclusion would seem to be the province of metaphysics (first philos-
ophy as Aristotle might have called it), not of history.
If this kind of argumentation is simply a kind of historical analysis, it is then li-
able to the same kinds of critique to which any historical analyses are vulnerable
questions of evidence, of historical cause, of historical law, of subjective bias, of
misinterpretation, etc. And, MacIntyres arguments would have to stand or fall on
their ability to address these criticisms and concerns.
If the kind of history that MacIntyre is practicing is something else a philo-
sophical history than it remains to us to understand what this might be and then
to see whether this kind of history must be evaluated differently, with a different
set of standards and critiques, than history proper. I will argue that the history that
MacIntyre practices is in fact a kind of metaphysics.

*****
Pangalos Michael

Alasdair MacIntyre and Charles Taylor
on Fragmented Self, Good and Hypergood

In his seminal After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre connects virtues and practices and
then examines the necessity for the life of virtue to be centered on one good. If
the moral agent fails to see his life as a whole, unified at least by one substantive
good, then moral life is pervaded By too many conflicts and too much arbitrari-
ness (After Virtue, p. 201). For if the life of virtue is continuously fragmented by
incompatibles choices, then it may seem that the goods internal to practices do
after all derive their authority from our individual choice and then the modern
self with its criterion less choices *+ reappears (After Virtue, p. 202), in an appar-
ently Aristotelian context, that of rational choice and decision. This single good
permeates the multiplicity of goods which inform practices and goes beyond
them to create the hierarchy of goods (or values) which is necessary to moral
action. MacIntyre speaks of an overriding good which warranted putting other
goods in a subordinate place or a telos which transcends the limited goods of
practices by constituting the good of a whole human life (After Virtue, p. 202, I
underline, MP). It is for the sake of this imperative unity and constancy of virtue
life, contrary to the fragmentation of the modern self, that MacIntyre will explore
the importance of the concept of a tradition, in the rest of After Virtue and in his
next major books. Furthermore, since the fragmentation of the self is a conse-
quence of the modern life, MacIntyre will adopt a critic attitude to modernity.
In his great book Sources of the Self, Charles Taylor also examines the same
problem: what is the presupposition for a moral agent in order to exist as an
integral and consistent and not as a punctual Lockean self Taylor sustains that
self cannot exist but in a moral space of strong evaluations, in an essential frame-
work of questions (Sources of the Self, first part, p. 3-91: 49). Up to this point then,
the two contemporary thinkers seem to be close to each other.
I believe, nevertheless, that there is a disagreement in this agreement,
which is not centered so much on the concept of the tradition, as on the very con-
cept of fragmentation and of the fragmented self, perceived by the two think-
ers in a different way, since Taylor has also a positive reading of fragmented self
which, in my opinion, derives from his broader reading of modernity and seculari-
zation. In my paper I will try to explore further this disagreement in the agree-
ment on good and fragmented self, between MacIntyre and Taylor.

*****

Papageorgakis George

F.A. Von Hayek:
Basic Aspects and Concepts of his Thought
Regarding to the Doctrine of Neoliberalism

F.A. von Hayek was one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century. Hayek, along
with Milton Friedman, has set the principles where the neoliberal doctrine was
founded on. He was a supporter of the free market economy and an opponent of
government intervention in the economy. A rival of centralized economic planning
in particular and an adversary of economic intervention in general. For Hayek,
central planned economy is a very serious threat to individual freedom, because
the government intervention would affect the human activities, leading inevitably
to forms of totalitarianism and tyranny. The gnosiology and anthropology of Hayek
and concepts such as "spontaneous order", "individualism" and "freedom" were
the main pillars of his thought on the basis of which he built the neoliberal theory
as an attempt to defend classical liberalism. The political and economic theory of
neoliberalism is based on philosophical terms and concepts. The intention of this
paper is to provide an overview on the basic concepts of Hayekian thought which
are the necessary conditions of economic neoliberalism. In other words, in this
study we will not deal with the pursuits and proposals of neoliberalism, but we will
examine neoliberalism in regard to its premises and mainly regarding to its
preconditions that are not "economic", nonetheless underpinning the neoliberal
worldview, namely social, political, institutional and anthropological factors.
Understanding and interpreting a worldview or a stream of thinking is not enough
to know what it is, how it is defined and where it is aimed at, but one must know,
apart from these, the basic facts that solidifies the theory (and are necessary for
the theory to exist) and also must recognize the evolutionary process of this
theory in spacetime. Therefore, we believe that the study of the preconditions of
neoliberalism is crucial in order to interpretate spherical the neoliberal theory.

*****

Papalexiou Kerasenia

Le Flneur The Issue of Wanderer

The approach of wanderer from Socrates era up to G. Simmel, E. . Poe, Baude-
laire, Benjamin, who wanders with his own particular style in a city, presents in-
teresting dialectic elements (proximity-distance, interaction) and central items for
a philosophical anthropologic regard. Is he a dynamic intellectual (Socrates), out-
side the shackles of the status (quo), which he deconstructs the determined and
expected, or is he an outsider of the social microcosm in which wandered, a wan-
derer which, however, does not recommend real threat. n both cases we can dis-
tinguish certain common characteristics: strange and outlandish profile, sharp eye,
detachment, emancipation, tendency of autonomy.

*****

Peik Herfeh Shirzad

The Moral Permissibility of Subjective Harms:
A Neglected Principle in Conceptions of Liberty

We are free in so far as our freedom is consistent with every other persons free-
dom, or so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs or impede their
efforts to obtain it. In other words, each person has the same indefeasible claim
to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible
with the same scheme of liberties for all.
Theses famous principles by well-known moral and political philosophers like
Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls seem clear and reasonable prima
facie. However, these principles, especially terms like in so far as, so long as,
consistent with and compatible with in them, are so ambiguous, vague, and
broad that even fanatic persons and tyrannies can misuse them to justify their
brutal violent actions.
This article tries to show that to clarify these principles and terms and to es-
tablish a free tolerant society and reasonable conceptions of liberty, we need a
morally relevant epistemological distinction on harms. I call it the objective/sub-
jective distinction. To harm somebody, that is to act against her interests, per se
cannot be morally impermissible. This is because there are harmful actions that
can still be compatible with the scheme of basic liberties for all, and are consis-
tent with every other persons freedom. I call these harms subjective, and I
think giving the agent the right to do them is a pre-condition of any free tolerant
society.
I propose two criteria to recognize a harm as subjective: 1. the person will not
be harmed if she changes some of her personal beliefs or, at least, will give the
agent the right to do the action; or 2. we can imagine some people exactly in the
same situation who are not harmed by the same action or, at least, give the agent
the right to do it. For example, wearing clothes that harm some person(s), deliver-
ing a lecture which some person(s) may find annoying, or speaking about an idea
which some person(s) may find disgusting or repugnant, are all good examples of
subjective harms.
Proposing, describing, and analyzing this distinction and defending the moral
permissibility of subjective harms, this article tries to clarify those famous ambi-
guous moral principles and terms to prevent any misuse of them.

*****

Pevec Rozman Mateja

Modernity, Crisis and Perspectives:
The Role of Tradition in Contemporary Culture

The modern western civilisation is trapped in radical crisis; we are facing with
global crisis which is not only economic, political or financial but also spiritual
(moral crisis). Unemployment is increasing and social distresses are growing up. A
human of contemporaneity is floating on the clouds of uncertainty, fears, doubts
and distrust. People are more and more frightened and vulnerable, vulnerable are
human relationships as well. The moment of todays Europe is essentially changed
also in another way: after the fall of Berlin Wall and foundation of European Union
the Europe is becoming more and more multicultural. The immigration of foreign-
ers and the free movement of labour make the European Union becoming increa-
singly non-monolithic, inter-religious even. All of this raises new challenges for
Europe and the World, among which the following two can be perceived as the
most challenging ones, namely, the meeting of various cultures and religions as
well as establishing the dialogue as a basis for harmonic co-existence among the
diversified and different. This article examines the role of religions in today's situa-
tion or precisely: what is the role of tradition? Traditions are bearers of systems of
values and standards of excellences. With MacIntyre I shall argue that tradition is
not petrified and paralysed but dynamic composition that must constantly be lia-
ble for rational inquiring and critical evaluation. Contemporary time is denoted by
different traditions that supplements and enrich each other but sometimes also
contradicts. Maximal theological openness and willingness for dialog are necessary
for harmonically coexistence of different traditions. In this article I shall also try to
find a common foundation, which is actually a necessary condition for dialog: with
MacIntyre I see this common foundation in revitalisation of virtue ethics and in
acceptance of virtues that are also necessary for harmonious and flourishing
common future of mankind.

*****
Pournari Maria

On MacIntyres Humean Distinction
Between Is and Ought

Over the past decades, most discussion of Humes moral theory has focused on
what it has been called the motivational argument, and the ontological status of
moral properties. But it is instructive to recall that in 1950s and 1960s, center
stage was given to his short passage on whether an ought can be derived from
an is (Treatise, 469-70); that is, whether any claim about what one is morally
obliged to do can be inferred from statements of fact alone. Hume was commonly
interpreted as denying that any deductive inference was valid, and this thesis was
elevated to the status of Humes law. However, this interpretation was not un-
animous, and a lively controversy developed regarding Humes intentions. Should
we read him as meaning that the derivation of an ought from an is really is
impossible, or take him literally as saying merely that it just seems impossible, be-
fore showing how it can be done?
According to MacIntyre (Hume on is and ought, 1955), the standard in-
terpretation of this passage takes Hume to be asserted that no set of non-moral
premises can entail a moral conclusion, claiming the autonomy of morality thesis.
MacIntyre wants to show that this interpretation is inadequate and misleading. In
fact, Humes remarks occur at the end of a chapter devoted to a sustained critique
of moral rationalism, where the passage itself ends with an explicit reference to
such theories, and his view that The distinction of vice and virtue is not founded
merely on the relations of objects, nor is perceived by reason. (T, 470) On the
controversy related to the interpretation of deduction MacIntyre points out that
the eighteenth-century usage of this term was wider than our own, including not
just what Hume would call demonstrative inference but also induction. First, he
argues that the immense respect accorded to Hume thus interpreted is puzzling,
since it is radically inconsistent with the disapproval with which contemporary lo-
gicians are apt to view certain of Humes arguments about induction. Second, he
shows that if this interpretation is correct, then the first breach of Humes law
was committed by Humes own moral theory does not square with what he is tak-
en to assert about is and ought. The aim of this paper is to outline the MacIn-
tyres argument and to clarify the necessary Humean distinctions of Humes argu-
ment against moral rationalism.
*****

Procopiou Eleni

Person and the Tradition of Common Good
in the Theory of Justice of Thomas Aquinas

The Christian anthropology of Thomas Aquinas, a product of the reconciliation of
theology with philosophy, of faith with reason, offers a new concept of the world
and man. Man, apart from being human and thus part of human nature, that is,
humanity is also an individual existence, a person within an experienced history.
The theological elaboration of the notion of a person in the thought of Thomas
Aquinas is combined with the acknowledgement of the nature of things and the
ontological revaluation of the material world, resulting in the acknowledgement of
the partially autonomous existence of man as natural individual, and the percep-
tion of the metaphysical (philosophical) notion of a person, which has undoubtedly
a worldwide significance for modern thought.
The practical and social character of a person is expressed in the moral teach-
ings of Aquinas, above all in the field of relations in the context of law.
Man, as a natural person, is subjected to relations of justice concerning,
above all, social life in whose context a person is an outcome of natural legitimacy
and defined by his relations. A person here has two aspects: one concerning the
general justice, that is, justice as social ethics in accordance with a persons so-
cial existence; and another relating to partial justice, that is, justice aiming at jus;
justice as a legal state of things and relations. The latter concerns man as a subject
of relations in the context of law regarding things, through which the legal exis-
tence of a human being as a person is constructed; that is, he acquires legal quali-
ties and roles. This is the legal framework within which persons relate directly
with goods and, through them, with each other.
Thus, the supernatural destination of a person as human being is comple-
mented by the practical, social character of a person, as expressed in the field of
legal relations and law. Consequently, the notion of a person in its spiritual and
social-legal context becomes a precursor of the modern era and a forerunner of
human rights; however, it remains part of the tradition of common good as ex-
pressed in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. We may say that Aquinas moderate
personalism balances impersonal ancient metaphysics and individualism of
modern times.

*****

Psarros Nikolaos

Time and Freedom

Personal beings are characterized by the fact that they are subject to both physical
(e.g. growth, metabolism) and mental changes (e.g. trains of thought, perfective
changes in their epistemic states). Regarding the temporal structure of both physi-
cal and mental changes, there is seemingly no possibility of altering the temporal
order of the phases of either a physical or a mental change, nor is it possible to
interrupt their continuity. Thus the existence of personal beings appears to be to-
tally determined by the temporal structure of both their physical and mental
changes.
On the other hand, personal beings experience their existence in the mode of
freedom, for freedom makes up the content of the thoughts that mark the final
cause of any mental change. Additionally the concept of freedom appears to be
intertwined with the nature of personal beings in such a manner that it is impossi-
ble to reduce freedom to a more primitive concept.
Such a fundamental understanding of the freedom of personal beings seems
to be in contradiction to the total determination of the physical and mental
changes that make up the existence of personal beings. This contradiction cannot
be resolved by a compatibilist account, but by a reformulation of the problem of
the relationship between freedom and temporality: Instead of examining how
freedom is possible under the condition of temporality, one should ask if and how
temporality is necessary for the manifestation of freedom.
The necessity of temporality for the manifestation of freedom is given by the
fact that personal beings are conscious not only of the fact of their sheer exis-
tence, but also of the fact that their existence is a realisation of a form, namely of
the form of a personal being. This fact is described by saying that personal beings
are self-conscious. This means that personal beings seek actively and intentionally
for the realisation of their form and in doing so they choose the best way for
achieving this end without being subject to any external coercion. Thus the self-
conscious, intentional realisation of the form of a personal being is the manifesta-
tion of its freedom of will. And since the realization of a form is a temporal process
the manifestation of the freedom of will of personal beings is by its nature, i.e. by
necessity, temporal. Additionally, personal beings are able to establish their own
aims by creating new forms and realizing them by means of their actions. Thus the
freedom of will is completed by the freedom of creation, or in Kantian terms by the
spontaneity of personal beings, which is in the same sense and because of the
same reasons necessarily of temporal nature.

*****
Rauschenbach Michael

MacIntyrean Theology, Competing Traditions,
and Divine Commands

Despite the development of Alasdair MacIntyres publicly stated views in moral
philosophy over the course of his career, his understanding of the relationship that
must obtain between our knowledge of God and independent standards of ration-
al justification changed little from his earliest writings on the subject as an atheist
to his later examinations of various theological issues as a Catholic. This is a
strange and somewhat surprising result, one that has substantial relevance both
theologically, and for those who are strictly interested in MacIntyrean critiques of
various competing traditions, and in his account of rational justification and its
relation to truth, issues that are in no way unique to his thought.
My argument proceeds through several stages. First, I want to make explicit
what I take to be MacIntyres thoughts about the relationship between rational
justification and truth as expressed in his major works. I argue that, despite his
stridently anti-relativist inclinations, his position can be only insufficiently distin-
guished from those he criticizes. Hearing several variations on one theme should
make my criticisms of his positions coherence more salientin every case, he
lacks an account of how rationally justified traditions get hooked up with true
moral claims. Secondly, I want to locate this tension in his treatment of a complex
web of theological beliefs regarding divine commands and religious faith common
to both Catholicism and to the work of Soren Kierkegaard. Examining his condem-
nation of Kierkegaard in After Virtue, which abates only slightly upon reconsidera-
tion of the central disputes in Kierkegaard After MacIntyre, illuminates this ten-
sions centrality to his thought about rational justification in both the moral and
theological arenas. MacIntyre thinks it irrational to obey divine commands for
which no justification, prospectively, can be given. I argue that divine commands
can only be justified retrospectively, but that the failure of MacIntyres account
demonstrates precisely why obeying them is nonetheless rational.
MacIntyre may be able to deflect some of my criticisms on pragmatic
grounds, and I consider some ways he might do so. Nevertheless, I do not think a
satisfying fix that remains compatible with MacIntyres overall theory is available,
and I conclude that, at least on some important moral and theological questions,
one will have to forego providing any sort of rational justification to those external
to ones tradition. This requires, however, not an abandonment of the project of
making truth claims, but a reassertion of its importance.

*****
Reese Matthew

The Problem with Modern Ethics

Virtue Ethicists who follow the arguments set out in Elizabeth Anscombes Modern
Moral Philosophy have consistently referenced problems with Modern Ethical
thought. Discovering the problem with Modern Ethics has been elusive, but is
important for two reasons: first, it is, itself, historically interesting were there to
emerge a common thread running through all of modernity; second, the answer
unifies the domain of Virtue Ethics. That is, coming to agree on what went wrong
with Modern Ethics determines whether and how philosophers should think
about Virtue Ethics.
The aim of my paper is to argue that there is a single underlying problem for
modern ethical thought by evaluating three influential dichotomies. I situate his-
torical claims made by Alasdair MacIntyre (1982) and Iris Murdoch (1970) into a
broader framework. MacIntyre argues that each Hume, and Kant and Reid incor-
rectly reduce the content of ethical thought to an impersonal moral value. Iris
Murdoch, however, argues the problem with modern ethical thought is that it ei-
ther concerns only overt actions, the behaviorist tradition, or internal movements
of the will, the existentialist tradition, which she thinks is a false dichotomy. There
is, still, a further worry that permeates modernity. I argue that the problem with
Modern Ethics is properly displayed between Humean Empiricists and Moorean
Intuitionists. Each neglect that apprehending morality might require subjectivity,
that is, a method of understanding, which includes the world as it appears through
the senses. This includes the primary senses: optical, auditory, tactile, gustatory,
and olfactory, as well as whatever else is particular to a person that might alter her
unique perception including beliefs, physical composition and history. Therefore, I
argue that the problem of Modern Ethics is best framed as one about methodolo-
gy. Grounding morality in subjectivity serves two purposes: (1) it is necessary for a
complete account of ethics; (2) it establishes a proper unifying theme for rising
Virtue Ethicists.

*****
Robson Angus

Constancy

Many would consider accounts of careers in banking to be a strange context for an
exploration of the virtue of constancy. However, if MacIntyre is right that the vir-
tues are necessary in order to resist the corrupting power of institutions, then the
conflicts which have arisen due to the acquisitiveness of some global banks might
in fact be a fruitful place to look for virtues of resistance. This paper aims to ex-
plore constancy in the context of Scottish banking over the last thirty years, and to
show how any adequate understanding of this virtue is dependent on an under-
standing of the underlying structures of virtue ethics.
The empirical evidence used in this paper was generated through research
conversations with ten leaders of Scottish banking, who talked in depth about
their own career histories and their perception of changes in the banking sector
since the 1970s. Narratives of conflict occur throughout these conversations, and
this has given occasion for accounts of resistance and of constancy. The question
then arises as to how acts of resistance may be interpreted as exhibiting the virtue
of constancy, rather than some related disposition of character, such as intransi-
gence. In addressing this question it emerges that certain underlying concepts are
vital to our understanding of the virtues, including the idea of the unity of the vir-
tues and a coherent teleology of the good.
It is argued that empirical enquiries into the virtues depend not only on an
understanding of such underlying concepts as virtue sets and what constitutes a
good life, but also on an awareness of the social structures which provide agents
with their particular formulation of those concepts.

*****

Sakellariadis Athanassios
Farantakis Petros

Aristotle on Consciousness:
Some Remarks on the Modern Hermeneutic Tradition

Modern theorists of consciousness frequently build their own criticism on mental
phenomena argumentation, according to the traditional Cartesian dichotomy be-
tween mind and body. Such a criticism despite its well-formed questioning some-
times overlooks various philosophical aspects on ancient thought especially in the
Aristotelian one. The aim of this paper is to highlight aspects of the Aristotelian
concept of consciousness despite the lack of the relevant Greek term. The notion
of consciousness is closely connected to the idea of perception () which
is in fact a crucial datum in the era of the Aristotelian thought.

*****

Sembou Evangelia

MacIntyres Notions of Practice and Tradition

MacIntyres definition of practice is very complicated. Moreover, it is rather va-
gue. As he says, the range of practices is wide: arts, sciences, games, politics in
the Aristotelian sense, the making and sustaining of family life, all fall under the
concept (AV, p. 188). Obviously, in their lives individuals participate in a number
of different practices. As practices have their internal goods, there may be con-
flict between them. How does one prioritize between them?
Moreover, how conservative is MacIntyre vis--vis the status quo? How does
one criticize specific practices? How are judgements within a practice disputed?
Regarding, MacIntyres concept of tradition, what is a tradition? Obvious-
ly, the notion of tradition does not have the sense ascribed to it by conservative
political thinkers (AV, p. 221). Rather, in a healthy tradition common goals are
the subject of continuous debate (AV, p. 222) In addition, given MacIntyres chal-
lenge of liberalism in After Virtue, it is indeed surprising that in Whose Justice?
Which Rationality? MacIntyre accords liberalism the status of a tradition (pp.
326-348).
The paper will address the above issues. Finally, the paper will consider which
is MacIntyres favourite polity. It is not a republican rgime, as it has been sug-
gested. MacIntyres favourite state is the size of a county. It is a state which has
reached its ultimate purpose (telos), thereby being able to provide humans with
autarky () and happiness (). For MacIntyre, the county is
the telos of humanity. And, since the end of political society is the best kind of
life, the county exists for the sake of noble actions ( ).
Accordingly, the distribution of awards and political offices in the county are made
on the basis of political virtue, for only virtuous rulers can instill virtue into their
fellow citizens. In MacIntyres county the institution of the family is bolstered for,
albeit a minor association, it is necessary for the purposes of reproduction and the
bringing-up of the countys virtuous citizens.

*****

Spyrakou Eleni

J. S. Mill:
Liberty of Thought and the Limits of Society

John Stuart Mill claims that one of the first things that an organized society should
short out is the compatibility between individual freedom and both public control
and social intervention, since everything that makes human life valuable depends
on the restriction of other peoples actions, whether acting individually or collec-
tively. Mankind is improvable by free discussion and experiments in living, and,
therefore, the activities of autonomous persons which are not harmful to the in-
terests of others should be protected within a sphere of liberty and non-
interference. For this reason, individuality and autonomous choice are important
components or ingredients in human well-being.
In this context, Mill argues on the fallibility of state and society in intervening
with individuals freedom of action to promote their development and protect
their interests, and the role of experiments in living in enabling people to discover
the most suitable forms of life for them. In this view, even eccentricity is better
than massive social uniformity, because this uniformity is the consequence of fear,
the dominance of customs and traditions, and the tyranny of public opinion. For
this reason, liberty of thought and, consequently, liberty of discussion are vital for
protecting individuality, as well as ensuring unconstrained pursuit of truth. If our
beliefs and actions emerge from the critical assessment that free, uncensored de-
bate involves, if they survive the dialectical struggle and control, then, and only
then, will one be entitled to accept them as justified. However, since we are falli-
ble, the debate must be on-going and in constant criticism of customary, uncriti-
cally acquired knowledge.

*****

Tegos Spyridon

The Tensions of Political Friendship in A. MacIntyre

*****

Theologou Kostas
Rapti Youli

On the Urge to Redefine Art
as a Novel Experience in Modern Culture

In this paper we discuss the deadlocks of defining art in modern culture. The lack
of criteria and modernism revisited are of crucial issue in this account. The theo-
retical mainframe of our approach is founded on the Frankfurt School thinkers
(Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin), and of course Jrgen Ha-
bermas. This theoretical apparatus is also attached to contemporary accounts giv-
en by Sorbonne Professor Marc Jimenez and art critic John A. Walker. The paper
discusses whether fine art may survive in what forms -and to what purpose- in an
age of mass media and in conditions of rapid networked communication. The pa-
per sets off from the critical role radical art plays in todays divided yet global
world and on the continuing debates between high art and low culture, but re-
flects on the interaction between art, media and technology.
To support our argument we suggest Body Art and other web/digital and
technological applications in art, and the cyber-art currently being produced for
the internet. The paper acknowledges the numerous interactions between art and
culture in a postmodern pluralistic world. The paper draws from the vast range of
contemporary works of art to illustrate theoretical points.
The introductory part surveys comprehensively the discussion, rather the de-
bate, concerning works of art, mass culture and society and their socio-
philosophical significance. The main discussion refers to the ideas and concepts on
the aesthetic experience, notably expressed by Walter Benjamin and Jrgen Ha-
bermas, aptly commented by Marc Jimenez; after revealing the complexity in cul-
ture and aesthetics the argument provides an account on the 1980s cultural and
political turn in aesthetics and designates the importance of communication in
modern culture. The narration is enhanced by specific examples of works of art in
the era of mass media, web and digital culture and underlines both the styles plu-
ralism and the variety of parameters affecting the interaction between art and
mass media communication. Critical findings and further research suggestions
conclude the paper.

*****

Tsinorema Stavroula

Morality, Reason and Contingency

What gives value to our evaluative universe? How can we make sense of deep
moral disagreements? Can there be objective grounds for moral assessment
without, in positing them, lapsing into dogmatic forms of a discredited moral
ontology? In Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives, Philippa Foot
has famously remarked: We are apt to panic at the thought that we our-
selves, or other people, might stop caring about the things we care about, and
we feel that the categorical imperative gives us some control over the situa-
tion. What inspires the panic, for Foot, as indeed for Kant, whom she makes
her direct target, is fear of a certain kind of deep contingency in what is valu-
able. This creates a kind of unbearable vertigo and necessitates the demand
for justification. We tend to think that we have the safest foothold in the sys-
tem of moral evaluation when we ask for a justification that would speak not
merely to us here and now, but to any rational agents at large. The only norms
that moral justification can safely presuppose, we claim, are norms of rational-
ity. But how is moral rationality to be understood?
Answers offered in modern moral philosophy have been bound up with
certain conceptions of agency. One eminent contemporary approach, which
distances itself from Enlightenment universalism and invokes Aristotelian
sources, argues that having a reason for action is associated with a substan-
tive notion of there being a good that is to be related to the action. Substan-
tive conceptions of the good may form the moral universe or moral reality
that anchors moral agents particular justifications. Moral reality itself may
change as conceptions of the good themselves change. There is no metaphysi-
cal moral reality out there waiting for our responses, nor is there a substan-
tive constraint associated with or derived from formal conditions of construct-
ing such a reality (Kantian constructivisms). There are diverse moral realities
associated with different conceptions of the good in different substantive con-
ceptions of practical reasoning. The possibility, however, is open that a bet-
ter moral reality can emerge out of competing alternative moral traditions.
In light of the above line of approach, the focal question of the lecture centers
around the following issue: Can a historically sensitive form of moral realism,
one that takes into account the role of the virtues and is sensitive to the notion
of dependence of moral agents to each other, be a viable alternative to the
vertigo of relativism and the arbitrariness of metaphysical dogmatism? Can a
conception of a tradition-constituted inquiry be the guiding thread in our
steering a course between a Scylla and a Charybdis, in our understanding of
moral objectivity and moral error? In searching for an answer, a dialogue with
MacIntyres suggestive line of argument will be attempted.

*****
Wicks Peter

Why We Cant Get Along:
Political Debate in an Emotivist Culture

It is a commonplace observation that contemporary moral and political debate is
increasingly polarized and that this is a serious problem for the health of modern
democratic politics. A great deal of psychological and sociological research has
been devoted to understanding the sources of polarization and we are inundated
with calls to get beyond polarization. Proposals for how this is to be achieved typi-
cally enjoin us to approach debates concerning contested issues in a more con-
structive and respectful spirit, and often include suggestions for institutional poli-
cies and reforms that would encourage this.
My paper will examine the phenomenon of polarization in light of the analysis
of emotivist culture presented by Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue. According to
that analysis contemporary moral disputes derive from rationally intractable disa-
greements on matters of first principles, and a consequence of this is that we in-
habit a culture in which the distinction between rational and non-rational persua-
sion has broken down. If MacIntyres analysis is correct then while approaching
moral and political debates in a more constructive spirit may make those disa-
greements less acrimonious an outcome very much to be desired there is little
prospect that doing so will allow us to overcome our fundamental disagreements.
MacIntyres analysis, I will argue, offers a superior explanation of the phenomenon
of polarization and the shrillness of contemporary debate. For example, the way in
which those who hold opposing views are commonly denounced as ignorant,
crazy, or blinded by ideology is better understood when the purpose of these
denunciations is seen as a way of preserving the illusion that anyone who was rea-
soning correctly and in full possession of the relevant facts would arrive at the
same conclusion. Furthermore, in calling contemporary culture emotivist MacIn-
tyre is suggesting not simply that the distinction between rational and nonrational
persuasion is not respected, but that it is a culture where our ability to respect this
distinction is severely limited.
MacIntyres is a bleak, but not a hopeless diagnosis. I will conclude by consi-
dering whether a MacIntyrean analysis of political polarization lends support to his
claim that the prospects for political renewal require a refocusing of our energies
away from the politics of the nation state toward forms of community where the
connection between debate and decision-making is much less tenuous.

*****

Zahariadis George

Modern Molecular Diagnostics and Ethical Issues
When Using Archived Clinical Specimens
and Something Novel is Identified

In medical science, the time between discovery and application is shortening. This
is highlighted in the field of pathogen diagnosis and discovery where molecular
techniques are allowing detection and identification of microbes that previously
was not possible.
It is accepted practice in medicine to store patient specimens for purposes of
future study. Specifically, if patient specimens exist for which a negative diagnosis
was made, applying new technology may yield a positive diagnosis.
Retrospective study on patient specimens offers great scientific value. It does
however raise bioethical questions, especially when a patient is living. Specific
questions include:
1. Did the patient agree to future tests, not known at the time of obtaining the
sample?
2. Should individual patients be asked if they want to know their new test re-
sults?
3. Or do we even need patient consent, from testing to communicating results
on previously diagnosed 'negatives' - actually false negatives now?
This bioethical line of questioning occurred when faced with applying new tech-
nology on archived brain fluid specimens. Forty front line physician neuroscience
specialists were surveyed asking whether new results on archived specimens
should be reported, along with soliciting additional comments from them. A re-
view of the literature was also performed to help understand how other academic
and scientific centers have tried to navigate through this medical ethical dilemma.

*****
LI S T OF CONF ERENC E PARTI C I PANTS

BEADLE, RON. Professor and Director of Research Ethics, Faculty of Business and
Law, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UNITED
KINGDOM ([email protected])
BIELSKIS, ANDRIUS. Professor, Institute of Political Sciences, Mykolas Romeris Univer-
sity, Vilnius, LITHUANIA ([email protected])
BOUKOURAS, EFSTATHIOS. Architect, Korinthos, GREECE ([email protected])
CALVERT, ANITA. Research Assistant, Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus,
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, CROATIA ([email protected])
CHRISTIAN, RICHARD. Visiting Scholar, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford,
UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
CHU, IRENE. Lecturer, Business School, York St John University, York, UNITED KINGDOM
([email protected])
CONCU, NICOLETTA. PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Cagliari,
Cagliari, ITALY ([email protected])
COSTANZO, JASON M.. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, St. Johns Uni-
versity, Queens, New York, USA ([email protected])
DEVINE, PHILIP. Professor, Department of Philosophy, Providence College, Provi-
dence Rhode Island, USA ([email protected])
DIMITRIOU, STEPHANOS. Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education
and Psychology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
DINI, RASTISLAV. Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Ni, Ni,
SERBIA ([email protected])
DRAGONA-MONAHOU, MYRTO. Professor Emerita, National and Kapodistrian Univer-
sity of Athens/University of Crete, Athens/ Rethymno, GREECE
([email protected])
DROSOS, DENIS. Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology,
University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
ERINAKIS, NIKOLAOS. PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Lon-
don, London, UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
ERKAN BALCI, ELIF NUR. PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy of Religion, Sa-
karya University, Sakarya, TURKEY ([email protected])
FARANTAKIS, PETROS. Secondary Education Teacher, Doctor of Philosophy, National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ATHENS, GREECE ([email protected])
FATTAH, AHMAD. PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield,
Sheffield, UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
FOREST, DENIS. Professor, Department of Philosophy, University Paris Ouest Nan-
terre, Paris, FRANCE ([email protected])
FRAUSTO, OBED. Professor, Department of Philosophy, Univesidad Nacional Autno-
ma de Mexico, Mexico City, MEXICO ([email protected])
GRARDIN-LAVERGE, LORAINE. PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University
Paris Ouest Nanterre, Paris, FRANCE
GLEZOU, AIKATERINI. MA in Philosophy University of London, Doctor of Philosophy
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GREECE
([email protected])
GLYCOFRYDI-LEONTSINI, ATHANASIA. Professor Emerita, National and Kapodistrian Uni-
versity of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
HOGAN, BRENDAN. Master Teacher, Global Liberal Studies Program, New York Uni-
versity, New York, USA ([email protected])
IAKOVOU, VICKY. Lecturer, Department of Social Anthropology and History, Univer-
sity of the Aegean, Mytilene, GREECE ([email protected]/ viakovou@sa
.aegean.gr)
KALOGERAKOS, IOANNIS. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education
and Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens,
GREECE ([email protected])
KNIGHT, KELVIN. Reader in Ethics and Politics and Director of the Centre for Con-
temporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics & Politics, Faculty of Social Sciences
& Humanities, London Metropolitan University, London, UNITED KINGDOM
([email protected])
KOMPRIDIS, NIKOLAS. Professor and Director of the Institute for Social Justice, Australian
Catholic University, Sydney, AUSTRALIA ([email protected])
KONSTANTAKOPOULOS, STAVROS. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
and History, Panteion University, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
KORKUT-RAPTIS, BUKET. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Mula Stk
Koman University, Mula, TURKEY ([email protected])
KOUTOUGKOS, ARIS. Professor, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law,
National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
LEONTSINI, ELENI. Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, Univer-
sity of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected]/[email protected])
LUTZ, CHRISTOPHER. Associate Professor, Department of Systematic Theology, Saint
Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, Saint Meinrad, USA
([email protected])
MAGGINI, GOLFO. Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education and
Psychology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
MAKRIS, SPIROS. Lecturer, Department of International and European Studies, Uni-
versity of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, GREECE ([email protected])
MALAKOS, TOLIS. Research Fellow in Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in
Ethics and Politics, London, UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
MALETTA, SANTE. Aggregate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Ca-
labria, Cosenza, ITALY ([email protected])
MARAGIANOU, EVANGELIA. Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education and Psy-
chology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GREECE
([email protected])
MARDOSAS, EGIDIJUS. PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, Vytautas Ma-
gnus University, Kaunas, LITHUANIA ([email protected])
MCCALL, BRIAN MICHAEL. Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate
Director of the Law Center and Director of Legal Assistant Education, College
of Law, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, USA ([email protected])
MCMYLOR, PETER. Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Manches-
ter, Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
MELA, LIA. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Sciences, Democritus Uni-
versity of Thrace, Komotini, GREECE ([email protected])
MOUTSOPOULOS, EVANGHELOS. Academician, Professor Emeritus and Former Rector
of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Academy of Athens-
Research Centre for Greek Philosophy, Athens, GREECE
([email protected])
MURDOCH JR, JAMES MURRAY. Visiting Assistant Professor, Villanova University, Villa-
nova, Pennsylvania, USA ([email protected])
NICHOLAS, JEFFERY L.. Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Providence
College, Providence, USA ([email protected])
NOUTSOS, PANAGIOTIS. Professor, Head of the Sector of Philosophy and Director of
Post-Graduate Programme, Department of Philosophy, Education and Psy-
chology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
ONEILL, MICHAEL. Associate Professor and Post-Baccalaureate Fellowships and
Scholarships Coordinator, Department of Philosophy, Providence College,
Providence, USA ([email protected])
PANGALOS, MICHAEL. Teaching Fellow, Hellenic Open University, Patras, GREECE
([email protected])
PANTAZAKOS, PANAGIOTIS. Associate Professor, Head of Philosophy Sector, Depart-
ment of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
PAPAGEORGAKIS, GEORGE. MA Candidate, Department of Philosophy, Education and
Psychology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
PAPALEXIOU, KERASENIA. Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Educational and Social Policy,
University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, GREECE ([email protected])
PEIK HERFEH, SHIRZAD. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Imam Kho-
meini International University, Qazvin, IRAN ([email protected])
PELEGRINIS, THEODOSIUS. Rector, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education
and Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens,
PETSIOS, KONSTANTINOS. Professor, Head of the Department of Philosophy, Education
PEVEC ROZMAN, MATEJA. Assistant Professor, Faculty of Theology, University of Lju-
bljana, Ljubljana, SLOVENIA ([email protected])
POURNARI, MARIA. Associate Professor, Department of Primary School Education,
University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
PRELORENTZOS, YANNIS. Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education and Psy-
chology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
PROCOPIOU, ELENI. Doctor of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of
Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
PSARROS, NIKOS. Professor, Institute of Philosophy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig,
GERMANY ([email protected])
RAPTI, YOULI. Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law,
National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
RAUSCHENBACH, MICHAEL. Graduate Assistant, Department of Philosophy, University
of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, USA ([email protected])
REESE, MATTHEW. MA Candidate, Department of Philosophy, University of Tennes-
see, Knoxville, USA ([email protected])
ROBSON, ANGUS. Graduate Tutor and PhD Candidate, Newcastle Business School, Northum-
bria University, Newcastle, UNITED KINGDOM ([email protected])
SAKELLARIADIS, ATHANASIOS. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Education
SEMBOU, EVANGELIA. Independent Researcher, Doctor of Philosophy, Athens, GREECE
([email protected])
SIOULA, PANAGIOTA G.. Philologist, MA in Education, Administrative-Financial Stuff,
Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, University of Ioanni-
na, Ioannina, GREECE ([email protected])
SPYRAKOU, ELENI. PhD Candidate in Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Education and
Psychology, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, GREECE (eleni.spyrakou@ gmail.com)
TASSOPOULOU, MARIA. Undergraduate Student, Architecture Department of Patras,
University of Patras, Patras, GREECE
TEGOS, SPIRIDON. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Social Studies,
University of Crete, Rethymno, GREECE ([email protected])
THEOLOGOU, KOSTAS. Lecturer, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Na-
tional Technical University of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
TSINOREMA, STAVROULA. Professor of Contemporary and Modern Philosophy and
Bioethics, Director of the Joint Graduate Programme Bioethics and Direc-
tor of the Centre for Bioethics, Department of Philosophy and Social Stud-
ies, University of Crete, Rethymno, GREECE ([email protected])
TSOLIAS, PANAGIOTIS. Journalist, MA in Philosophy, PhD Candidate in Philosophy, National
and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GREECE ([email protected])
VAKI, FOTINI. Assistant Professor, Department of History, Ionian University, Corfu,
WICKS, PETER. Catherine of Siena Fellow, Ethics Program, Villanova University, Villa-
nova, Pennsylvania, USA ([email protected])
ZAHARIADIS, GEORGE. Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, University of
Western Ontario, CANADA ([email protected])

SPONSORS

We wish to express our gratitude to the following sponsors:

University of Ioannina

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

***

NIKI MEPE Digital Engineering

***

Municipality of Athens

Book of Abstracts

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Book of Abstracts

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Book of Abstracts

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF IOANNINA

SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY

You might also like