Theory, Practice, and Tradition:
Human Rationality in Pursuit of the Good Life

St. Meinrad School of Theology, July 30-August 3, 2008

The 2nd Annual Conference The International Society for MacIntyrean Philosophy

Conference secretary: Christopher Lutz

A number of papers from this conference were featured in a special issue of the journal Philosophy of Management.

Plenary Speakers
Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University
Ronald Beiner, University of Toronto

Suggested topics include:

  • What is the good life?  Can we still talk about the good life?

  • Is practical rationality necessarily moral? Is moral reasoning necessarily practical?

  • What is a practice? Can practices be normative?  Must practices be teleological?

  • What is a tradition? Are traditions rational? Are traditions normative?

  • How do theories and practices form traditions? How do traditions bear theories and practices?

  • What are some sources of conflicts within and between traditions?

  • Must the good life be religious?  Can the religious lead a good life?

  • Is any kind of metaphysical biology necessary or possible today?

  • Is universal human nature a philosophical discovery or an oppressive ideological imposition?