Speak No Evil (Danish: Gæsterne, lit. ’The Guests’) directed by Christian Tafdrup The film centers on Bjørn and Louise, a Danish couple invited by Patrick and Karin, a Dutch couple, to their remote country house for a weekend, along with their respective children. It does not take long for the Danes to realise they have made …
In the preface (p. xi) to Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues (1999), Alasdair MacIntyre refers to a prayer by Thomas Aquinas ‘in which he asks God to grant that he may happily share with those in need what he has, while humbly asking for what he needs from those who have’. …
In recent years at UK universities such as the University of Edinburgh, the language of community and belonging has become increasingly visible. This is evident in institutional initiatives – task groups, staff and student guidance, and strategic plans – that foreground connection, inclusion, and student experience. One explanation is straightforward: universities are responding to identifiable …
In Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry, MacIntyre writes that any answer to the question what are universities for? should begin with this: They are, when they are true to their own vocation, institutions within which questions of the form ‘What are x’s for?’ and ‘What peculiar goods do y’s serve?’ are formulated and answered …
Introduction A rich aesthete, a therapist, and a manager walked into a university… and made it their home. It is a poor punchline, but then this is no joke: these three characters have increasingly shaped the moral logic of many contemporary universities and show no signs of leaving. In After Virtue, Alasdair MacIntyre argues that …
McInerny, R. (1997) Ethica Thomistica: The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Revised edition. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press. Chapter 1: Morality and Human Life 1. Human Action and Moral Appraisal Human actions are moral actions. A human act is one that is conscious, deliberate, and free, and therefore something for which the …
Today there is almost constant talk in universities of excellence: excellence of institutions, of staff, and even of students. A quick search of the University of Edinburgh website yields teaching and research excellence (including the Research Excellence Framework), academic excellence, Exemplars of Excellence in Student Education, VLE Excellence, Tercentenary Awards for Excellence, the Centre for …
Few concepts are invoked more confidently in contemporary universities than ‘the Student Voice’. Yet the term – especially when framed in the language of ‘championing the Student Voice’ – can obscure an important distinction. Students are authoritative witnesses to their experience of teaching, assessment, services, and university life. They are not, simply by being students, …
One of my favourite poems by Seamus Heaney is this one from his 1991 collection Seeing Things. This poem is the eighth in the first section (Lightenings) of Part 2 (Squarings). viii The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise Were all at prayers inside the oratory A ship appeared above them in the …
Patient: Do you think I have low self-esteem? Therapist: No, it’s about right. How do we know whether our own evaluation of ourselves, and of our lives as a whole, is accurate or justified? How can we tell if we’re genuinely living a good life? MacIntyre (2016, p. 222) makes the bold claim that at …
