Virtues, Values, and the Good Life: Alasdair MacIntyre's Virtue Ethics and Its Implications for Counseling
✍ Scribed by Joseph A. Stewart-Sicking
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 162 KB
- Volume
- 52
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0160-7960
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre's critique of modern ethics and his virtue‐centered alternative suggest that counseling can be considered a form of applied virtue ethics, helping clients cultivate the qualities necessary to live the good life. Although similar to developmental theory and positive psychology, this perspective also questions whether counseling is value neutral and suggests that counseling should account for the (often hidden) traditions, virtues, and practices of the good life it promotes. Comparison with spiritual direction suggests ways counseling can apply the insights of this model ethically within a pluralistic setting.