hallmark of modernity. Or to put this another way, his is a vision where engaging with a
practice offers the possibility of human flourishing. For it is by engaging with a practice
that the goods internal to that practice become available, it is where the virtues are
encouraged and have the opportunity to flourish, and it is where some refuge from the
fragmentation effects of late modernity might be found.
Before beginning a discussion of practices in the sense in which MacIntyre develops the
term it should be noted that his vision of practices is set within a sociology where the
idea of tradition and the idea of individual narrative complete the story. Hence, while
practices are perhaps the first essential components of a good human life, practices do
not of themselves represent sufficient conditions for a good life. This is to say that he
takes it to be necessary that if there is to be any sense of unity in the idea of human
flourishing, practices are to be recognised as only one component for it is the case that
all three aspects (practices, traditions, and individual narrative) are necessary if any
sense of unity ofhuman experience is to be realised. On this account to engage in a
single practice might contribute to, but would not be definitive of, human flourishing.
With this in mind I will now turn to examine the idea of a practice as defined by
MacIntyre.
MacIntyre uses the term practice to refer to:
.. .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 ends and goods
involved are systematically extended
(MacIntyre 1985 p. 187)
In order to clarify he uses the example of chess. Chess is a game that only offers internal
rewards when played in the ‘proper spirit’ rather than when played solely to win;
although to win by playing with respect for the spirit of the game will be an excellent
achievement. To win by playing in a manner that ignores the spirit of the game is to
forfeit the possibility of the internal rewards available only from playing in the ‘right
way’. And playing in the right way requires inter alia paying attention to the rules and
traditions of the game, as well as playing with respect for the level of sophistication to
which players of excellence have brought the game. To play well is to engage with the
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