MacIntyrean bioethics: reappraisal and outline of a research programme

Alasdair MacIntyre’s (1929–2025) work in moral philosophy was wide-ranging, erudite and controversial. Following his death in 2025, it is appropriate to reappraise the relevance of his work to bioethics. MacIntyre’s analysis may helpfully be divided into his ‘critical project’, which criticises modern moral philosophy and reveals and explains its shortcomings, several of which arguably affect bioethics; and his ‘constructive project’, which sets out MacIntyre’s version of neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics. We summarise these ‘projects’ and how they have been used within bioethics. Our claim is that there is still significant untapped potential for work in medical ethics/bioethics inspired by MacIntyre. We propose further uses of MacIntyre under the five headings critical, diagnostic, revisionist, normative and hermeneutic. The article ends with a brief reflection on the merits and limits of a MacIntyrean bioethics.