The Proving Ground of Virtue

By John Doody, Ph.D. | June 16, 2022

Without question one of the most important contributions to liberal education and the current renaissance of classical education was the publication of After Virtue, authored by Alasdair MacIntyre in 1981. In his ground breaking study, MacIntyre “reinvents” an approach to moral reasoning which had been “lost” or “forgotten” in the age of Modernity. Until recently, nearly all approaches to that topic were guided by either Kant’s Deontological outlook or Mill’s Utilitarianism. In either case, those approaches actually followed the same line of thinking. Moral reasoning is essentially a rule-governed activity and the only question is methodological, i.e., what are the best candidates for said rules and how do we go about constructing them.

MacIntyre’s revolutionary suggestion was that we should instead go back to the Greeks and especially
Aristotle and rediscover his understanding of moral reasoning, namely that such thinking is in fact the
pursuit of the virtues. We pursue those virtues or excellences as MacIntyre refers to them as, because
that pursuit of ours is in reality our pursuit or journey in quest of the good life.

Each of us, Aristotle argues, live our lives in search of our telos—our goal, purpose, or end. Moral reasoning revolves then around two questions: What should our end(s) be and how should we act in
order to reach that end? For Aristotle our end should be the good life and thus how we act will always and naturally be undertaken with the consideration of how each moment moves us towards the good.
According to MacIntyre, we can only do so through the practice of the virtues. Thus any attempt to know and live the good life will necessarily involve our knowing, understanding, and practicing the virtues
necessary for the attainment of the good life. Now it turns out that we can only practice these virtues in what itself is a practice. MacIntyre defines a practice as “any coherent and complex form of socially established cooperative human activity through which goods internal to that form of activity are realized in the course of trying to achieve those standards of excellence which are appropriate to, and partially definitive of, that form of activity, with the result that human powers to achieve excellence, and human conceptions of the ends and goods involved are systematically extended.” Neither Tic-tac-toe nor throwing a football with skill are examples of a practice, but the games of football and chess are.

Thus, if one wants to be a good football player, one must learn to adopt those virtues or excellences
which will enable one to achieve the goods internal to football, as well as achieve those standards of excellence established within the practice of football. But as the philosopher Heather Reid points out in her introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, even if an athlete does cultivate and express such virtues
in the practice of her sport, these virtues have limited worth if they cannot be carried out into
other practices in which they participate and play a role. Take the case of that basketball player who
dives after every loose ball and takes every charge in the paint. If that same player when she shows
up for class, if indeed she even does show for class, fails at the practice of being a good student because she fails to practice the virtues necessary for being a good student, that person is leading an incomplete and fractured moral life. As MacIntyre says, “someone who genuinely possesses a virtue can be expected to manifest it in very different types of situations.”

Thus, the limited goods of specific practices orientedto the ends of that practice must be subsumed
under a greater good, i.e., the good of a whole human life. As MacIntyre says, “there is at least one virtue recognized by the tradition which cannot be specified at all except with reference to the wholeness of a human life—the virtue of integrity or constancy.” As Kierkegaard said, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” So where does this exercise of thought lead us? I believe it demonstrates that the practice of the virtues in a successful athletic activity can and should lead to the successful education of a student who wishes to know and embrace the principles of classical liberal education. There is no necessary disconnect between a successful athlete and a successful student. If a disconnect does appear in a particular student, that disconnect is contingent and neither necessary nor universal.

We are embodied spirits, embodied wills. Whether we are practicing the piano or practicing our passing
arm, in practice for our upcoming concert or the Super Bowl, whether we are reading The Merchant of Venice or reading the green for a breaking putt, in any case we will be successful only to the extent that we have embodied the virtues necessary for that concert or game or class.

John Doody is visiting professor of philosophy at Arizona State University’s School for Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. He has also taught at St. Joseph’s University, Haverford College, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Colorado, Boulder. Doody’s scholarly interests include Augustine, Alasdair MacIntyre, and the philosophy of sport.

Image: Middle School 8-Man Championship, Veritas Prep vs. Chandler Prep, 2021, Anthony K. Lam