Following a gap of nearly forty years (!), I'm re-reading Alasdair MacIntyre's influential book After Virtue. As I do so, I'll post occasionally on the reflections it inspires.
Right off the bat on page 6, MacIntyre gives three examples of contemporary moral disagreement that, from my recent philosophical perspective, I find questionable: just war, abortion, and rights to health care and education.
Notice that these topics concern politics or public morality, they are general or impersonal, they aren't things I can take action on directly (unless I happen to have a significant role in political governance), we are supposed to deliberate about them in a disinterested or dispassionate manner, and our deliberations should result in policies or rules that are universal. Thus to my mind they are actually matters of statecraft.
Flipping these qualities around, we get a glimpse of what, by contrast, soulcraft is all about: those aspects of life that are private, personal, practical, passionate, and particular. Consider a few of the more momentous matters one might deliberate about in life: Is this the person I want to marry? Do we want to start a family? Is this the line of work that comprises my calling? Should I quit my job and become an entrepreneur? How can I help my best friend, who is facing a personal crisis? I suspect I'm in an abusive relationship, should I move out and start over? Is now the time for me to retire? How can I give back in my community? Is this avocation expressive of who I really am? How can I do justice to my highest potential as a human being? And so on.
Here's how I would unpack these qualities:
Statecraft is what most people pontificate about on social media, blogs, Substack, and the like - but what matters most in our pursuit of happiness and fulfillment is soulcraft.
(Cross-posted at Beautiful Wisdom.)
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