Week 5: Alasdair MacIntyre

In MacIntyre’s book, “After Virtue”, one particular quote caught my eye. He states, “We live out our lives, both individually and in our relationships with each other, in the light of certain conceptions of a possible shared future, a future in which certain possibilities that beckon us forward and others repel us, some seem already foreclosed and others perhaps inevitable” (pg. 306). This quote struck me in particular because given the current state of our world, both economically and environmentally, people are moving through the courses of their lives wondering what our shared future might turn out to be.

Depending on what people’s perspectives are on in life, they may see the world as hopelessly doomed. The world is in a state of constant crisis, with rising grocery and gas prices, global warming, pollution, and the list goes on. Life can be stressful if you blindsight yourself with the continuous stream of media available at all times. I, myself sometimes get overwhelmed and lost on what the future holds for me.

However, if you take a step back and look at life from a different perspective, you can find that there is good in the world. Music, love, food, culture, the good parts of humanity, and the list goes on. I think it’s important to realize that even if the future seems inevitable and things get complicated, the world gives and takes. There is no curse without a gift and no gift without a curse. Our lives are neither all good nor all bad. It is a shared experience that the generations past have lived through and the generations ahead will live through as well.