Revolutionary Aristotelianism and Ideology - by Egidijus Mardosas (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

How does ideology function and, more importantly, how can we resist ideological subjugation?

Egidijus Mardosas answers these questions by applying the philosophical resources of Revolutionary Aristotelianism: a recent approach in social philosophy that takes inspiration from the Aristotelian works of Alasdair MacIntyre.

In particular, Mardosas focuses on the Aristotelian and Macintyrian notions of practical reason and virtue. To be a successful practical agent, he explains, is to reach for genuine human goods and resist all forms of ideological subjection. And our virtues are the intellectual and moral powers that can help us in this task. Considering which virtues to practise, this book examines the qualities of hope, truthfulness, comradeship, courage, and justice and uncovers how all the virtues are key, in differing ways, to sustaining our practical agency in the face of ideological manipulation.

Bringing together ethics, social philosophy, and Aristotle via MacIntyre, as well as key thinkers from Gramsci to Rehmann, Revolutionary Aristotelianism and Ideology provides an urgent investigation into the necessity and virtues of social struggle.

Review Quotes

Revolutionary Aristotelianism and Ideology shows that Alasdair MacIntyre's turn to Aristotle, far from being an abandonment of his earlier radicalism, only deepened his critique of the social, political, and economic structures of modernity. Mardosas provides a compelling case for MacIntyre's importance as a critic of the ideologies that are used to justify injustice and oppression, while putting MacIntyre's revolutionary Aristotelianism in dialogue with other traditions of critique.

About the Author

Egidijus Mardosas is Research Fellow in Philosophy at Vilnius University and Research Fellow at the Centre for Aristotelian Studies and Critical Theories at Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania.