After Virtue

Why it’s on the list: MacIntyre’s claim that modern moral argument never resolves because we inherited fragments of incompatible traditions without the teleology that made any of them coherent — and his case for returning to Aristotelian virtue. The best explanation on offer for why public moral arguments go nowhere, whatever one makes of the remedy.

Where I heard about it

• On Jay’s investing reading list — a Google Sheet of 92 books by discipline, saved in Kyle’s Roam notes on April 15th, 2020 (Jay’s Investing Reading List). Jay’s reason: “Follow-on from Kuhn, w/ some Wittgenstein + Aristotle thrown in”
• @SpencrGreenberg’s thread — named in the replies to his question “What non-fiction book taught you the most about how the world really works?”, June 2025. Full set of replies: A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet).
• Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, under Pursuing the Good Life: Ethics and Personal Growth, March 2026.

Connections

• A question for you — What non-fiction… (tweet) — the thread this came out of; the full recovered list lives there.
• Virtue · Ethics · Morality — the subject.
• On the Genealogy of Morals — MacIntyre treats Nietzsche as the only serious alternative to his own position.