ISME2027

All Happy Families Are Not Alike:
MacIntyre and Close Relationships

July 15–17, 2027

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Canada

Conference Secretaries
Dominique Mailloux & Reiss Kruger

Conference Email
isme2027@macintyreanenquiry.org


Call for Papers

A prominent theme in Alasdair MacIntyre’s work is the great importance of close kin relationships, such as those of friendships, families, and households. To him, these relationships are constitutive of communities, each embodying a (more or less explicit and successful) moral enquiry about the human good. He characterizes the “making and sustaining families and households” as central human practices that require both courage and fidelity. In traditional society the kinship group, which includes family and close friends, was the primary moral community: its bonds allowed ‘man’ to know who he was by understanding his role in these structures and indicated what he owed and what was owed to him – his honor. He further indicates that genuine friendship, which embodies a shared recognition of and pursuit of common goods, is both essential to any form of community and the paradigm for the relationship between husband and wife in the household.

MacIntyre states that “we inherit from our family a variety of debts, inheritances, rightful expectations and obligations [that] constitute the givens of our lives, our moral starting points, and give them particularity,” and it is from these particular starting points we are called to a quest to seek the human good. Families are also key and indispensable constituents of local communities, because their common good can generally and characteristically only be achieved in the course of achieving the common goods of the local communities of which they are a part. Further, their goods (sustenance, daily life, friendship, etc.) are what make other larger human projects, such as moral enquiry, possible. Kinship and family are also what make moral enquiries necessary, as each of us struggles to live up to our obligations by acting in accord with the virtues of independent practical reasoning and acknowledged dependance, that go hand in hand.

Drawing upon MacIntyre’s conceptualization of the importance of close kin relationships in friendships, families, and households; of their relationships to practices and local communities; and of their constitutive role in moral development and flourishing, as well as upon his actual consideration and care for these relationships through his work and life, our conference theme encompasses a variety of topics related to close or intimate relationships, ranging from the in-depth examination of specific relationships, to the exploration of interactions and intersections between these relationships and larger social structures like communities and traditions.

Inspired and challenged by MacIntyre’s reflections, we invite paper proposals on close kin relationships. Possible topics include, but are by no means limited to:

  • The role of close relationships in practices and institutions

  • Close kin relationships and the narrative unity of a human life

  • Friendship and fraternal relationships, especially genuine friendships developed through the common pursuit of a good

  • Close relationships in moral enquiries, in the university and beyond

  • The virtues of acknowledged dependance in relationship with the ethics of care

  • The modern nation-state’s effects on close relationships

  • The intersection of professionals and professional practice with families’ lives (e.g. law, social work, psychology, medicine, economics, etc.)

  • The interaction of internal and external goods in close relationships

  • Exploration of close relationships, power, and the natural “giving and receiving” inherent to humans’ dependence on each other.

  • The role of the virtues of acknowledged dependance, courage, and fidelity in close relationships

  • Close relationships and the natural law

  • MacIntyrean understanding of families, households, and marriages.

While papers on the conference theme are particularly encouraged, we also welcome submissions related to other aspects of MacIntyre’s work, including those from non-MacIntyrean perspectives that address broader themes (e.g. virtues, practices, work and human flourishing, the narrative unity of life) relevant to his project.

In addition to submissions of individual papers, we are also accepting proposals for 3-4 person panels on various topics related to the conference theme. Individual paper and panel proposals can be submitted here.

Submissions Deadline
January 15, 2027