Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Evaluating the effectiveness of the MacIntyrean philosophical approach in delivering a professional ethics course

  • Published:
International Journal of Ethics Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper measures the effectiveness of a professional ethics course using the MacIntyrean Philosophical Approach (MPA) which incorporates virtues, narrative, tradition, and community. There has been limited empirical work using this framework in which the emphasis has been on ‘thick descriptions’ created through narrative, mainly the case methodology. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no attempt to quantify the constructs of the MPA which is one of the contributions of our paper. Our approach is the first to use a mixed method approach in applying the MPA and utilizes ten (10) virtues captured in the Moral Competency Inventory, developed by Lennick et al. (2011), to measure virtues at the personal and social levels. Data were collected from eighty-nine (89) students (comprising the treatment and control groups) and analyzed using various multivariate techniques including Exploratory Factor Analysis, MANOVA and Structural Equation Modeling. The results were also triangulated with self-reflective essays that were analysed using content analysis. The findings showed that students’ virtues were higher after exposure to the MPA which confirmed that it had a significant and positive impact on the delivery of the professional ethics course.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, R.M. 2006. A Theory of Virtue: Excellence in Being for the Good. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R.P., and Y. Yi. 2012. Specification, Evaluation, and Interpretation of Structural Equation Models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40 (1): 8–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertucio, B. 2016. Alasdair MacIntyre and Contemporary Capacity for Epistemic Criterion. Thresholds 39 (1): 5–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bielskis, A., and E. Mardosas. 2014. Human Flourishing in the Philosophical Work of Alasdair MacIntyre. International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 2 (2): 185–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burley, D. 1990. Exploration of Informal Education in Schooling. In T. Jeffs, and M. Smith (eds), Chapter 5: Using Informal Education: An Alternate to Casework, Teaching and Control? Buckingham: Open University Press.

  • Carr, D., and J. Steutel, eds. 1999. Virtue and Moral Education. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clayton, T. 2005. Political Philosophy of Alisdair MacIntyre. http://www.iep.utm.edu/p–macint/#H3. Accessed 06 June 2017.

  • Coyle, D. 2018. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. New York: Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, J. 2007. Applying Virtue Ethics to Business: The Agent-Based Approach. Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies 12 (2): 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunne, J. 2003. Arguing for Teaching as a Practice: A Reply to Alasdair Macintyre. Journal of Philosophy of Education 37 (2): 353–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emerson, T., and J.A. McKinney, J. 2010. Importance of Religious Beliefs to Ethical Attitudes in Business. Journal of Religion and Business 1 (2): 1–15.

  • Frazer, E., and N. Lacey. 1994. The Politics of Community: A Feminist Critique of the Liberal-Communitarian Debate. Cambridge Law Journal 53: 619–619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graneheim, U., and B. Lundman. 2004. Qualitative Content Analysis in Nursing Research: Concepts, Procedures and Measures to Achieve Trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today 24 (2): 105–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J.F., W.C. Black, B.J. Babin, and R.E. Anderson. 2010. Multivariate Data Analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, C. 2010. Working Conditions: The Practice of Teaching and the Institution of School. The Good Life of Teaching: An Ethics of Professional Practice: 177–203.

  • Holzapfel, N. 2009. The Role of Narrative Unity in Alisdair MacIntyre’s Theory of Ethics. http://yoomoot.com/the-role-of-narrative-unity-in-alisdair.macintyres-theory-of-ethics. Accessed 22 May 2012.

  • Jeffries, P. 2003. Reforming MacIntyre: Reflections on a Tradition-Based, Ethics-Oriented Curricular Transformation. Analytic Teaching 23 (2): 112–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, M.D., and M.K. McBeth. 2010. A Narrative Policy Framework: Clear Enough to Be Wrong? Policy Studies Journal 38 (2): 329–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kallenberg, B. 2011. The Master Argument of MacIntyre’s After Virtue. In Virtue: Readings in Moral Theology No. 16, ed. C. Curran and L. Fullam. New York: Paulist Press.

  • Krippendorff, K. 2004. Reliability in Content Analysis. Human Communication Research 30 (3): 411–433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, R.E., and F.A. Curlin. 2011. The Rise of Empirical Research in Medical Ethics: A MacIntyrean Critique and Proposal. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 36 (2): 206–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennick, D., F. Kiel, and K. Jordan. 2011. Moral Intelligence: Enhancing Business Performance and Leadership Success. New Jersey: Pearson Education Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. 2016. Ethics in the Conflict of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical Reasoning, and Narrative. IK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. 1984. After Virtue. Illinois: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. 1987. The Idea of an Educated Public. In Education and Values: The Richard Peters Lectures, ed. G. Haydon, 15–36. London: Institute of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malpas, J. 2012. The Demise of Ethics. Applied Ethics 8: 29–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, D., and B. Austin. 2010. Validation of the Moral Competency Inventory Measurement Instrument: Content, Construct, Convergent and Discriminant Approaches. Management Research Review 33 (5): 437–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H. 2009. Rebuilding Companies as Communities. Harvard Business Review 87 (7/8): 140–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, M. 2006. Michael Polanyi, Alasdair MacIntyre, and the Role of Tradition. Humanitas XIX (1 & 2): 97–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. 2012. Virtue in Business: Alliance Boots and an Empirical Exploration of MacIntyre’s Conceptual Framework. Organization Studies 33 (3): 363–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G., and R. Beadle. 2008. MacIntyre Empirics and Organizations. Philosophy of Management 7 (1): 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perkins, J. 2017. Virtues and the Lawyer. The Catholic Lawyer 38 (3): 185–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneewind, J.B. 1982. Virtue, Narrative, and Community: MacIntyre and Morality. The Journal of Philosophy 79 (11): 653–663.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, B. 1990. King Midas in America. In Enhancing business ethics, ed. C.C. Walton. New York: Plenum Press.

  • Smith, S.R. 2003. Virtue Ethics and Moral Knowledge: Philosophy of Language after MacIntyre and Hauerwas. UK: Ashgate Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stedman, J. 2010. Aristotle’s Cardinal Virtues: Their Application to the Assessment of Psychopathology and Psychotherapy. Practical Philosophy 10 (1): 57–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart-Sicking, J. 2008. Virtues, Values, and the Good Life: Alasdair MacIntyre’s Virtue Ethics and its Implications for Counseling. Psychotherapy & Counseling 52 (2): 156–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang Choon, A.1982. A Comparison between the Traditional and Contemporary Wisdom of Trinidad & Tobago. Caribbean Studies Project, Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus.

  • Turner, B. 2013. Alasdair MacIntyre on Morality, Community and Natural law. Journal of Classical Sociology 13 (2): 239–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waggoner, J. 2010. Ethics and Leadership: How Personal Ethics Produce Effective Leaders. CMC Senior Theses, Paper 26. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/26. Accessed 05 March 2018.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meena Rambocas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Arjoon, S., Rambocas, M. Evaluating the effectiveness of the MacIntyrean philosophical approach in delivering a professional ethics course. International Journal of Ethics Education 3, 135–156 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-018-0050-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40889-018-0050-x

Keywords

Navigation