Behind the Masks of Morality
On moral panic and other modern rhetorical weapons
“A rhetoric which serves to conceal behind the masks of morality what are in fact the preferences of arbitrary will and desire.”— Alasdair MacIntyre
Side-quest part two
This article is somewhat different from most of what I’ve published over the past three years, but not quite as different as the last one.
As I mentioned recently, I took a rhetoric course this winter and really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. One of the assigned readings for the course was After Virtue, by Alasdair MacIntyre. It was written in 1984, and even then the language must have seemed old fashioned. The book is heady, highly philosophical, and sometimes convoluted.
MacIntyre’s ideas are complex and the writing is dense, so it is not an easy read by any means. I do love a challenge however, and ended up really enjoying the book — even if I may have to go back and re-read some sections in order to fully comprehend the content.
This second article in my two-part series has a much more modern focus, bringing in current events and relevant socio-political issues.
