The Fall of Modern Liberal Society: After Virtue by Aladsair MacIntyre
Aladsair MacIntyre argues in After Virtue that modern liberal societies are weak and lost in moral confusion because they have forgotten Aristotelian virtue ethics.
Have you noticed that protest has become a distinct and central moral feature of the modern West?
Whether that takes the form of storming a federal capitol building or $2 billion in damages from “Defund the police” riots, the only way to win a moral debate today is to be the louder and more indignant protestor. Today, we play the zero-sum game of will to power.
Why the indigence and self-righteousness? The answer runs deeper than social media silos and the profit incentive of clickbait headlines.
We don’t share the same moral language anymore. We’ve thrown out objective standards of truth for individual subjective feelings:
“I’m speaking my truth.”
In the wake of this pathetic phrase, we’ve come to ensure that we will talk past each other, protestors will never lose an argument, and unfruitful discussion will end in frustration and violence.
