Metaphysics, History, And Rational Justification: A MacIntyrean Response to Franklin Gamwell's Critique

Author: Reames, Kent

Source: Journal of Religious Ethics, Volume 27, Number 2, Summer 1999 , pp. 257-281(25)

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Abstract:

This article addresses Franklin Gamwell's critique of Alasdair MacIntyre's account of the nature of rational justification. I argue that MacIntyreans have good reasons to take seriously Gamwell's critique, and thus to reformulate MacIntyre's position to make clear that that position does not rest on a denial of all a priori claims. The author outlines such a reformulation, drawing heavily on MacIntyre's account (in his 1990 Aquinas Lecture) of the place of a priori claims within the development of rational traditions of inquiry. When thus rethought, MacIntyre's position grounds a twofold response to Gamwell's critique.

Keywords: ethics; historicism; metaphysics; rationality; tradition; transcendental

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0384-9694.00017

Publication date: 1999-06-01