What have scholars collectively learned from Alasdair MacIntyre's (1984) paper?

Abstract

Alasdair MacIntyre's (1984) article, 'Does applied ethics rest on a mistake? ' offers his most detailed and extensive critique of the dominant framework in applied ethics. However, no study has systematically examined MacIntyre's paper's overall impact on the scientific community. Citation concept analysis (CCA) was used to determine the extent to which subsequent authors collectively learned from MacIntyre's paper. CCA indicates that a large proportion of authors focused on: 1) the universal and abstract nature of applied ethics; 2) the close relationship between a moral theory and its application. Nonetheless, the political content of MacIntyre's paper has been largely disregarded, including radical disagreements, power relations, conflict, enduring moral principles, rediscovery of morality and the comprehensive moral scheme. This research proposes a future research agenda for realising and appropriately representing the full potential of MacIntyre's paper.