Alasdair MacIntyre on the Sources of Unpredictability in Human Affairs (1972)

This lecture explicates an early form of the argument, developed in MacIntyre’s 1972 paper “Predictability and Explanation in the Social Sciences,” that becomes the central claim of chapter 8 of After Virtue. Namely, that generalizations in social science lack predictive power or value. MacIntyre notes that while he is making what some listeners might consider a “rather arcane point” it is one that “has extremely important social implications.” Of his attempts to clarify a technical argument that he usually must “illustrate on a blackboard” MacIntyre delightfully says to the audience “You must forgive me, I am like a conjurer who has arrived on the stage without not only a hat, but without a rabbit either!”
This talk was given by Alasdair MacIntyre in 1972 at the American University Department of Philosophy in Washington D.C. Kay Chapel as part of the 15th Annual Bishop John F. Hurst Philosophy Lecture.
00:00 Aim of the Talk
03:13 Natural Particulars
07:23 Social Particulars
14:34 Unpredictability of Conceptual Innovation
20:00 Unpredictability of Open Decisions
29:23 Unpredictability of Game-Theoretic Conflicts
32:31 Application to Social Particulars
36:41 Extrapolation from Trends
44:06 Regularities in Social Life
49:09 Judgment & Small Causes with Large Effects
53:38 Practical Consequences
Source of the audio: dra.american.edu/islandora/ob...
#Philosophy

[@electricrussellette]

MacIntyre is still alive today at 93.

[@quantumfineartsandfossils2152]

Holy crap a genius holy crap hes an alien hes psychic fukinay wow important being!!

[@AP-yx1mm]

94*

[@hihello-sx1sx]

Thought this was already uploaded

[@jacquestaulard3088]

Why do I listen to these things! Addicted, big words, obscure jokes with a chuckle... My psychiatrist refuses to see me any longer, describing my condition as no condition! More... MORE!! The Bard?Did he not say : brevity is the soul if wit?

[@thebrickton1947]

Your quack is an imp

[@jacquestaulard3088]

Translation pls

[@jonathanthompson4734]

Do you have any affiliation with Church Life Journal? This is at least the second time where they post something about someone on their Facebook page and within 24 hours, you have posted something on the same person.

[@Philosophy_Overdose]

Nope.

[@jonathanthompson4734]

@@Philosophy_Overdose How strange then

[@Philosophy_Overdose]

@@jonathanthompson4734 I don't think it's all that strange at all, even if it were nothing but a sheer coincidence. Of course, just because there is no affiliation doesn't necessarily mean that there might not be some other factor at play, like a common cause. For example, perhaps both I and they just so happened to read the same thing which then influenced us both, perhaps even in a somewhat more indirect way. However, I don't think that's even what's going on in this particular case. It might just be a coincidence and nothing else. This wouldn't be all that surprising, especially given the fact that I post a video nearly every day, and almost every video itself involves a rather famous thinker who is bound to be discussed elsewhere in numerous places. And given this alone, there are bound to be many such coincidences all over the place.

[@czeslawsamojlik2670]

@@Philosophy_Overdose 268

[@thadtuiol1717]

I never thought he would sound this posh. That's a cut glass RP accent. Kinda disappointing given his tremendous Scots-Irish name.

[@thebrickton1947]

Aye ya wee malky bampot, yar be seeking 'to a mouse-rabbi burns' or 'still game' pater, but the Scots had once a very aristocratic period where they ney spoke like wee NEDs from Glasgie.