Abstract

MacIntyre puts forward the thesis that we cannot achieve tradition-transcendent standards of rational thinking. There is no such thing as rationality-as-such because it exists only as rationality-from-a point-of-view. In fact, it belongs to a certain tradition within which it has been developed. He distinguishes three traditions of moral enquiry that fight in contemporary world for victory. The first is “Encyclopaedia”, the name of which was taken from the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and represents a research program typical of modern liberal philosophy. F. Nietzsche initiated the second tradition called “Genealogy”. Its canonical text is Zur Genealogie der Moral. MacIntyre also identifies also a third ethical research program called “Tradition” and one of its principal authors is Thomas Aquinas. He argues that, even if we live in a world of different traditions, we know how to act. Thomism and its doctrine of natural law offers the most rational solution to moral problems. A very fruitful way of putting this into practice can be found in the teachings in "Veritatis Splendor". We present his way of resolving the conflict by arguing that Thomism is the superior of the three traditions, which leads MacIntyre to accept the conclusions of "Veritatis splendor". Finally, we offer our opinion on his attempt to overcome relativism and accept moral absolutism.