맥킨타이어와 칸트의 덕: 인간선의 실천으로서의 덕

Abstract

According to MacInytyre, modern moral philosophy is presupposing the isolated I and universal moral law that are abstracted from the social context. And because of these characteristics of modern moral philosophy, modern society is seeing the flourishing moral relativism. Modern Enlightenment is justifying morality not by telos in human nature but by calculating rationality, as result morality has became the problem of the best choice of the isolated individual. MacIntyre says that modern Enlightenment Project has made a human act unintelligible because we can understand an act only through human good or human telos which the act strives for. But he finds human telos not in Aristotelian teleology but in the human being as the narrative that is being formed by the history and tradition. Because MacIntyre's virtue is based on the changeable and so unpredictable human nature which is being built up by social practices, his virtue ethics is different from the other virtue ethics that give emphasis on the emotional character of agent. Emphasizing the narrative of individual life which is intelligible only through the history and tradition, MacIntyre is trying to overcome the doubt of ethical relativism which is constantly raised against his concept of virtue. Meanwhile Kant also has tried to establish the universal foundation of morality that is not based on the metaphysical teleology. In Kant, the intelligibility of a moral act is attained by the relation of the Categorical Imperative and the Maxim and individual acts. Many Kant critics understand the Maxim not as an intention of an act but as ‘general guideline for living’. According to Kant the moral law is not an empty form but gives an end of every moral act. The humanity itself is the universal end of all rational agent who seek after the moral good. Kant says that we can achieve moral virtues only through practicing constantly the maxims which aim the humanity in myself and others. If we could make clear how the universal moral law be practiced in everyday life, there can be the intelligibility and predictability of moral acts. Accordingly the Kantian virtue is not so different from MacIntyre's virtue, on the contrary, can give help to solving MacIntyre's dilemma. When he should decide to choose among many compatible but conflicting narratives or traditions, the Categorical Imperative can function as guiding principle.