Back to the Rough Ground

Description

Back to the Rough Ground is a philosophical investigation of practical knowledge, with major import for professional practice and the ethical life in modern society. Its purpose is to clarify the kind of knowledge that informs good practice in a range of disciplines such as education, psychotherapy, medicine, management, and law. Through reflection on key modern thinkers who have revived cardinal insights of Aristotle, and a sustained engagement with the Philosopher himself, it presents a radical challenge to the scientistic assumptions that have dominated how these professional domains have been conceived, practiced, and institutionalized.

Author Bio

Joseph Dunne teaches philosophy of education at St. Patrick's College, Dublin City University. He has co-edited several books and is the author of many scholarly articles and reviews.

Alasdair MacIntyre is research professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books, including After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, Third Edition (Notre Dame Press, 2007) and Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition (Notre Dame Press, 1990).

Reviews

"[Dunne] makes clear both the contemporary relevance of the Aristotelian conception of practical judgment and the way in which, implicitly and explicitly, it has already played a part in the twentieth-century debates in a way that no one else has done. His detailed exposition of Aristotle is not only admirable . . . but exceptionally well-designed." ~Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame