Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues

by Alasdair Mac Intyre (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $30.91

  Where should an account of the virtues begin? This book argues that we should begin with the facts of vulnerability and disability, and of dependence on others, to which moral philosophers have given insufficient attention, and with the animal nature of human beings - that which exhibits their kinship to members of other intelligent species.

• New

  Paperback
  2001

  $21.58

  This compares humans to other intelligent animals, drawing conclusions about human social life and our treatment of those whom he argues we should no longer call disabled. The author argues that human beings are independent, practical reasoners, but they are also dependent animals who must learn from each other in order to remain largely independent. To flourish, humans must acknowledge the importance of dependence and independence, both of which are developed in and through social relationships. This requires the development of a local community in which individuals discover their own goods through the discovery of a common Good.