Caleb Bernacchio | California State University, Monterey Bay (original) (raw)
Papers by Caleb Bernacchio
Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, s... more Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, suggesting that judgments concerning the salience of specific facts are, in some cases, an indication of one’s incapacity to appreciate the full range of normatively salient facts. This problem can be mitigated by linking an account of the virtues with a theory of organizations. From this perspective, virtue is inherently shaped by the norms structuring one’s role(s) and is linked to the complementary set of roles, that is, the organization, in which one is participating through the virtues of loyalty and obedience. Within this perspective, human cognitive limitations are made to be strengths, allowing one to focus on a narrow set of reasons for action linked with one’s role to better achieve salient aims as a member of the organization than one could as an isolated individual.
The Academy of Management annals, Feb 16, 2024
Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, ofte... more Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, often understood as a defining feature of organizations. However, far-reaching questions have been raised about its legitimacy as well as its effectiveness as a mechanism of coordination under modern productive conditions. Moreover, there are substantial disagreements concerning its function, characteristic activities, and basis of legitimacy, yet no comprehensive review of this notion exists. We perform such a review, focusing especially on issues of legitimacy and function and how they are related to the moral dimension of managerial authority. In our review, we identified two distinct approaches to managerial authority, namely bureaucratic theories and efficiency-based theories, each involving several variations (five and three, respectively). Drawing together themes from our review, we argue further that, given the many challenges facing managerial authority in a contemporary context, there is a need for an integrative theory of authority that both identifies complementarities between the differing dimensions of authority and attributes a fundamental role to the moral dimension. We outline such a theory and a related research agenda.
Review of Metaphysics, Mar 1, 2023
Frontiers in Sociology, Mar 28, 2023
Palgrave studies in digital business & enabling technologies, 2023
The ethical analysis related to the impact of digital technologies on the future of work needs to... more The ethical analysis related to the impact of digital technologies on the future of work needs to be conducted considering the theoretical diversity of ethics. After reviewing prominent existing approaches to ethics (utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics), this chapter suggests the need for an agent-centred ethical perspective based on goods, norms, and virtues for the evaluation of ethical issues related to digital technologies and their impact on the future of work. Different examples illustrate the merits of this approach, helping to untangle complex issues concerning the relationship between the nature and scope of digital technologies, M. Rocchi (*) DCU Business School,
Frontiers in Communication
Philosophy of Management
: MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice ... more : MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice research but his approach has further relevance to the field. The MacIntyrean approach further focuses attention on joint production as an organization-wide practice that potentially encompasses and integrates sub-organizational practices. It also highlights the way that ordinary organization members engage in modes of praxis in order to integrate productive practices in the service of morally salient, organizational goals, facilitating collaboration and long-term value creation, illustrating how participation in joint production shapes members’ identities beyond that derived from sub-organizational, productive practices. As such, this approach offers new insights into the nature of the praxis, practices, and practitioners that shape processes of strategizing within organizations., This approach also furthers the integration of the practical and critical strands of strategy as practice research and provides insights into the way it can be integrated with other research in strategy.
Cadernos do PET Filosofia, 2014
This essay offers a phenomenological reading of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. It is intended... more This essay offers a phenomenological reading of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. It is intended to both illustrate the similarities between MacIntyre's mode of argumentation in this work and the early Heidegger's method of phenomenological destruction, and to highlight the potential fruitfulness of a deeper engagement between phenomenology and MacIntyre's work. MacIntyre's critique of modern moral philosophy, like Heidegger's destruction, turned upon the groundlessness of abstract concepts separated from the experiential and social context in which they were originally at home. Drawing upon Heidegger's phenomenology allows one to better understand MacIntyre's critique as well as the role of his notion of a practice as a corrective to these tendencies.
Academy of Management Annals, 2024
Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, ofte... more Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, often understood as a defining feature of organizations. However, far-reaching questions have been raised about its legitimacy as well as its effectiveness as a mechanism of coordination under modern productive conditions. Moreover, there are substantial disagreements concerning its function, characteristic activities, and basis of legitimacy, yet no comprehensive review of this notion exists. We perform such a review, focusing especially on issues of legitimacy and function and how they are related to the moral dimension of managerial authority. In our review, we identified two distinct approaches to managerial authority, namely bureaucratic theories and efficiency-based theories, each involving several variations (five and three, respectively). Drawing together themes from our review, we argue further that, given the many challenges facing managerial authority in a contemporary context, there is a need for an integrative theory of authority that both identifies complementarities between the differing dimensions of authority and attributes a fundamental role to the moral dimension. We outline such a theory and a related research agenda.
Acta Philosophica, 2019
E xtending the thematic bibliography previously covering the years 1984-2001 1 and 2002-2010, 2 t... more E xtending the thematic bibliography previously covering the years 1984-2001 1 and 2002-2010, 2 this essay includes prominent secondary literature focused on Alasdair MacIntyre's work, published between 2011 and 2018. Since MacIntyre has also just published an important book and a number of articles, it will first include an overview of his recent work. Because of the sheer volume of publications drawing upon aspects of MacIntyre's work published since 2011, 3 this bibliography must inevitably be selective. Focusing on research published in English, two others selection criteria have been adopted : First, I aim to illustrate the breadth of MacIntyre's influence beyond moral philosophy. In fields as various as strategic management, anthropology, and nursing, researchers have found inspiration and drawn insights from MacIntyre's work. This is in part a reflection of MacIntyre's efforts to develop an approach to moral theory that does not disregard the practitioner's perspective. Second, I focus on the way that tensions within MacIntyre's work have influenced his commentators. In this light, it is not implausible to suggest that we are witnessing a spectrum of left and right MacIntyreans, each of whom can legitimately claim to be developing aspects of MacIntyre's work. This focus serves to indicate the vast range of questions that still remain to be answered, questions often given a much greater salience as a result of MacIntyre's work. Thus, while this thematic bibliography is necessarily selective, its scope is broad.
Philosophy of Management, 2023
: MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice ... more : MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice research but his approach has further relevance to the field. The MacIntyrean approach further focuses attention on joint production as an organization-wide practice that potentially encompasses and integrates sub-organizational practices. It also highlights the way that ordinary organization members engage in modes of praxis in order to integrate productive practices in the service of morally salient, organizational goals, facilitating collaboration and long-term value creation, illustrating how participation in joint production shapes members’ identities beyond that derived from sub-organizational, productive practices. As such, this approach offers new insights into the nature of the praxis, practices, and practitioners that shape processes of strategizing within organizations., This approach also furthers the integration of the practical and critical strands of strategy as practice research and provides insights into the way it can be integrated with other research in strategy.
Frontiers in Sociology
In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejecte... more In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejected this view in response to criticisms from Beadle and others. Most subsequent work, including that of Moore, adopted a view of organizations, including firms, as institutions that house a core practice. We first recount Moore's early view, defend and it from various criticisms. We then briefly review research in management and finance arguing that this research supports a view of business consonant with Moore's early view. Thus, we argue that business is a distinct practice that integrates various productive and auxiliary practices to facilitate mutually beneficial transactions. We conclude by discussing implications of this view, noting that it might be viewed as a classical liberal appropriation of the MacIntyrean framework, and arguing that it poses a challenge to MacIntyreans working with a neo-Aristotelian perspective.
Frontiers in Sociology, 2023
In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejecte... more In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejected this view in response to criticisms from Beadle and others. Most subsequent work, including that of Moore, adopted a view of organizations, including firms, as institutions that house a core practice. We first recount Moore's early view, defend and it from various criticisms. We then briefly review research in management and finance arguing that this research supports a view of business consonant with Moore's early view. Thus, we argue that business is a distinct practice that integrates various productive and auxiliary practices to facilitate mutually beneficial transactions. We conclude by discussing implications of this view, noting that it might be viewed as a classical liberal appropriation of the MacIntyrean framework, and arguing that it poses a challenge to MacIntyreans working with a neo-Aristotelian perspective.
Business and Society Review
The combined effect of technological innovations in the workplace and the lockdowns imposed by th... more The combined effect of technological innovations in the workplace and the lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly increased the prominence of remote working, with an undeniable impact on both business and society. In light of this organizational and sociological change, this article analyzes how this renewed work environment can be the place where workers can develop several relevant virtues, specifically moderation, integrity, and mercy. This new environment may also present the opportunity to develop a number of opposing vices, which are also explained and analyzed. The article concludes by suggesting some implications for managers who wish to promote virtuous behaviors in the new context of remote work.
International Philosophical Quarterly
Patrick Byrne argues that MacIntyre’s account of practical reasoning is inadequate because it is ... more Patrick Byrne argues that MacIntyre’s account of practical reasoning is inadequate because it is based upon a notion of flourishing that places too much emphasis on impersonal facts, likewise because it is excessively focused on means without considering the role of desire for ends, and because it is does not account for the role of feelings in explaining how knowledge of ends is attained. In this essay, I argue that MacIntyre’s account provides adequate responses to each of these concerns. But more broadly, I argue that Byrne is right to suggest that a Lonerganian perspective offers important insights that can extend MacIntyre’s neo-Aristotelian practical philosophy. Specifically, Lonergan’s account of the generalized empirical method may inform MacIntyre’s theory of rival, and potentially incommensurable traditions, explaining how standards of argument are both transcultural and historically articulated.
Academy of Management Review
Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and coopera... more Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and cooperation with others. Scholars have often noted the importance of “moral factors” in facilitating such collaboration but previous research has not adequately explained the nature of these moral factors, how they are embodied within joint production, or why organization members willingly adhere to them. We draw upon virtue ethics to address these questions. We argue that joint production represents a distinct, organization-level practice embodying morally salient standards of professional excellence that contribute to the development of members’ virtues through habituation. We then elaborate microfoundations for this account, developing a virtue ethical account of human agency as directed toward human flourishing such that members willingly adhere to organizational norms and values when they coherently embody goods that contribute to human flourishing.
Journal of Business Ethics
Recognition is a fundamental good that corporations ought to give to employees, a good that is es... more Recognition is a fundamental good that corporations ought to give to employees, a good that is essential to their well-being, and thus, recognition should be among the central notions in our understanding of organizations and in any theory of business ethics. Drawing upon the work of Philip Pettit and Robert Brandom as well as themes from instrumental stakeholder theory, I develop a complex notion of recognition involving both status recognition and capacity recognition and argue that this account meets three fundamental desiderata of any adequate account of business ethics: It makes salient key normative features of the practice of business. It articulates a genuine ethical demand that is not reducible to the economic imperatives typical of self-interested actors. And it is compatible with the strategic demands that organizations face to remain competitive. Status recognition involves treating others as persons whose rights are legally enshrined. Capacity recognition involves treating others as persons possessing specific capacities. When corporations accord these forms of recognition to employees, they promote their well-being in a fundamental way and they promote the long-term success of the firm. Thus, recognition represents an underappreciated concept that may further contribute to theory development in business ethics and organization studies and more ethical business practice.
Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, s... more Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, suggesting that judgments concerning the salience of specific facts are, in some cases, an indication of one’s incapacity to appreciate the full range of normatively salient facts. This problem can be mitigated by linking an account of the virtues with a theory of organizations. From this perspective, virtue is inherently shaped by the norms structuring one’s role(s) and is linked to the complementary set of roles, that is, the organization, in which one is participating through the virtues of loyalty and obedience. Within this perspective, human cognitive limitations are made to be strengths, allowing one to focus on a narrow set of reasons for action linked with one’s role to better achieve salient aims as a member of the organization than one could as an isolated individual.
The Academy of Management annals, Feb 16, 2024
Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, ofte... more Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, often understood as a defining feature of organizations. However, far-reaching questions have been raised about its legitimacy as well as its effectiveness as a mechanism of coordination under modern productive conditions. Moreover, there are substantial disagreements concerning its function, characteristic activities, and basis of legitimacy, yet no comprehensive review of this notion exists. We perform such a review, focusing especially on issues of legitimacy and function and how they are related to the moral dimension of managerial authority. In our review, we identified two distinct approaches to managerial authority, namely bureaucratic theories and efficiency-based theories, each involving several variations (five and three, respectively). Drawing together themes from our review, we argue further that, given the many challenges facing managerial authority in a contemporary context, there is a need for an integrative theory of authority that both identifies complementarities between the differing dimensions of authority and attributes a fundamental role to the moral dimension. We outline such a theory and a related research agenda.
Review of Metaphysics, Mar 1, 2023
Frontiers in Sociology, Mar 28, 2023
Palgrave studies in digital business & enabling technologies, 2023
The ethical analysis related to the impact of digital technologies on the future of work needs to... more The ethical analysis related to the impact of digital technologies on the future of work needs to be conducted considering the theoretical diversity of ethics. After reviewing prominent existing approaches to ethics (utilitarianism, deontological ethics, virtue ethics), this chapter suggests the need for an agent-centred ethical perspective based on goods, norms, and virtues for the evaluation of ethical issues related to digital technologies and their impact on the future of work. Different examples illustrate the merits of this approach, helping to untangle complex issues concerning the relationship between the nature and scope of digital technologies, M. Rocchi (*) DCU Business School,
Frontiers in Communication
Philosophy of Management
: MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice ... more : MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice research but his approach has further relevance to the field. The MacIntyrean approach further focuses attention on joint production as an organization-wide practice that potentially encompasses and integrates sub-organizational practices. It also highlights the way that ordinary organization members engage in modes of praxis in order to integrate productive practices in the service of morally salient, organizational goals, facilitating collaboration and long-term value creation, illustrating how participation in joint production shapes members’ identities beyond that derived from sub-organizational, productive practices. As such, this approach offers new insights into the nature of the praxis, practices, and practitioners that shape processes of strategizing within organizations., This approach also furthers the integration of the practical and critical strands of strategy as practice research and provides insights into the way it can be integrated with other research in strategy.
Cadernos do PET Filosofia, 2014
This essay offers a phenomenological reading of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. It is intended... more This essay offers a phenomenological reading of Alasdair MacIntyre's After Virtue. It is intended to both illustrate the similarities between MacIntyre's mode of argumentation in this work and the early Heidegger's method of phenomenological destruction, and to highlight the potential fruitfulness of a deeper engagement between phenomenology and MacIntyre's work. MacIntyre's critique of modern moral philosophy, like Heidegger's destruction, turned upon the groundlessness of abstract concepts separated from the experiential and social context in which they were originally at home. Drawing upon Heidegger's phenomenology allows one to better understand MacIntyre's critique as well as the role of his notion of a practice as a corrective to these tendencies.
Academy of Management Annals, 2024
Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, ofte... more Managerial authority is a fundamental concept within organizational and management research, often understood as a defining feature of organizations. However, far-reaching questions have been raised about its legitimacy as well as its effectiveness as a mechanism of coordination under modern productive conditions. Moreover, there are substantial disagreements concerning its function, characteristic activities, and basis of legitimacy, yet no comprehensive review of this notion exists. We perform such a review, focusing especially on issues of legitimacy and function and how they are related to the moral dimension of managerial authority. In our review, we identified two distinct approaches to managerial authority, namely bureaucratic theories and efficiency-based theories, each involving several variations (five and three, respectively). Drawing together themes from our review, we argue further that, given the many challenges facing managerial authority in a contemporary context, there is a need for an integrative theory of authority that both identifies complementarities between the differing dimensions of authority and attributes a fundamental role to the moral dimension. We outline such a theory and a related research agenda.
Acta Philosophica, 2019
E xtending the thematic bibliography previously covering the years 1984-2001 1 and 2002-2010, 2 t... more E xtending the thematic bibliography previously covering the years 1984-2001 1 and 2002-2010, 2 this essay includes prominent secondary literature focused on Alasdair MacIntyre's work, published between 2011 and 2018. Since MacIntyre has also just published an important book and a number of articles, it will first include an overview of his recent work. Because of the sheer volume of publications drawing upon aspects of MacIntyre's work published since 2011, 3 this bibliography must inevitably be selective. Focusing on research published in English, two others selection criteria have been adopted : First, I aim to illustrate the breadth of MacIntyre's influence beyond moral philosophy. In fields as various as strategic management, anthropology, and nursing, researchers have found inspiration and drawn insights from MacIntyre's work. This is in part a reflection of MacIntyre's efforts to develop an approach to moral theory that does not disregard the practitioner's perspective. Second, I focus on the way that tensions within MacIntyre's work have influenced his commentators. In this light, it is not implausible to suggest that we are witnessing a spectrum of left and right MacIntyreans, each of whom can legitimately claim to be developing aspects of MacIntyre's work. This focus serves to indicate the vast range of questions that still remain to be answered, questions often given a much greater salience as a result of MacIntyre's work. Thus, while this thematic bibliography is necessarily selective, its scope is broad.
Philosophy of Management, 2023
: MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice ... more : MacIntyre’s distinctive version of practice theory has already influenced strategy as practice research but his approach has further relevance to the field. The MacIntyrean approach further focuses attention on joint production as an organization-wide practice that potentially encompasses and integrates sub-organizational practices. It also highlights the way that ordinary organization members engage in modes of praxis in order to integrate productive practices in the service of morally salient, organizational goals, facilitating collaboration and long-term value creation, illustrating how participation in joint production shapes members’ identities beyond that derived from sub-organizational, productive practices. As such, this approach offers new insights into the nature of the praxis, practices, and practitioners that shape processes of strategizing within organizations., This approach also furthers the integration of the practical and critical strands of strategy as practice research and provides insights into the way it can be integrated with other research in strategy.
Frontiers in Sociology
In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejecte... more In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejected this view in response to criticisms from Beadle and others. Most subsequent work, including that of Moore, adopted a view of organizations, including firms, as institutions that house a core practice. We first recount Moore's early view, defend and it from various criticisms. We then briefly review research in management and finance arguing that this research supports a view of business consonant with Moore's early view. Thus, we argue that business is a distinct practice that integrates various productive and auxiliary practices to facilitate mutually beneficial transactions. We conclude by discussing implications of this view, noting that it might be viewed as a classical liberal appropriation of the MacIntyrean framework, and arguing that it poses a challenge to MacIntyreans working with a neo-Aristotelian perspective.
Frontiers in Sociology, 2023
In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejecte... more In his early work, Moore argues that business itself was a MacIntyrean practice. He later rejected this view in response to criticisms from Beadle and others. Most subsequent work, including that of Moore, adopted a view of organizations, including firms, as institutions that house a core practice. We first recount Moore's early view, defend and it from various criticisms. We then briefly review research in management and finance arguing that this research supports a view of business consonant with Moore's early view. Thus, we argue that business is a distinct practice that integrates various productive and auxiliary practices to facilitate mutually beneficial transactions. We conclude by discussing implications of this view, noting that it might be viewed as a classical liberal appropriation of the MacIntyrean framework, and arguing that it poses a challenge to MacIntyreans working with a neo-Aristotelian perspective.
Business and Society Review
The combined effect of technological innovations in the workplace and the lockdowns imposed by th... more The combined effect of technological innovations in the workplace and the lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly increased the prominence of remote working, with an undeniable impact on both business and society. In light of this organizational and sociological change, this article analyzes how this renewed work environment can be the place where workers can develop several relevant virtues, specifically moderation, integrity, and mercy. This new environment may also present the opportunity to develop a number of opposing vices, which are also explained and analyzed. The article concludes by suggesting some implications for managers who wish to promote virtuous behaviors in the new context of remote work.
International Philosophical Quarterly
Patrick Byrne argues that MacIntyre’s account of practical reasoning is inadequate because it is ... more Patrick Byrne argues that MacIntyre’s account of practical reasoning is inadequate because it is based upon a notion of flourishing that places too much emphasis on impersonal facts, likewise because it is excessively focused on means without considering the role of desire for ends, and because it is does not account for the role of feelings in explaining how knowledge of ends is attained. In this essay, I argue that MacIntyre’s account provides adequate responses to each of these concerns. But more broadly, I argue that Byrne is right to suggest that a Lonerganian perspective offers important insights that can extend MacIntyre’s neo-Aristotelian practical philosophy. Specifically, Lonergan’s account of the generalized empirical method may inform MacIntyre’s theory of rival, and potentially incommensurable traditions, explaining how standards of argument are both transcultural and historically articulated.
Academy of Management Review
Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and coopera... more Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and cooperation with others. Scholars have often noted the importance of “moral factors” in facilitating such collaboration but previous research has not adequately explained the nature of these moral factors, how they are embodied within joint production, or why organization members willingly adhere to them. We draw upon virtue ethics to address these questions. We argue that joint production represents a distinct, organization-level practice embodying morally salient standards of professional excellence that contribute to the development of members’ virtues through habituation. We then elaborate microfoundations for this account, developing a virtue ethical account of human agency as directed toward human flourishing such that members willingly adhere to organizational norms and values when they coherently embody goods that contribute to human flourishing.
Journal of Business Ethics
Recognition is a fundamental good that corporations ought to give to employees, a good that is es... more Recognition is a fundamental good that corporations ought to give to employees, a good that is essential to their well-being, and thus, recognition should be among the central notions in our understanding of organizations and in any theory of business ethics. Drawing upon the work of Philip Pettit and Robert Brandom as well as themes from instrumental stakeholder theory, I develop a complex notion of recognition involving both status recognition and capacity recognition and argue that this account meets three fundamental desiderata of any adequate account of business ethics: It makes salient key normative features of the practice of business. It articulates a genuine ethical demand that is not reducible to the economic imperatives typical of self-interested actors. And it is compatible with the strategic demands that organizations face to remain competitive. Status recognition involves treating others as persons whose rights are legally enshrined. Capacity recognition involves treating others as persons possessing specific capacities. When corporations accord these forms of recognition to employees, they promote their well-being in a fundamental way and they promote the long-term success of the firm. Thus, recognition represents an underappreciated concept that may further contribute to theory development in business ethics and organization studies and more ethical business practice.
Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, s... more Bounded rationality presents a challenge to the notion that virtue is a capacity for knowledge, suggesting that judgments concerning the salience of specific facts are rather an indication of one's incapacity to appreciate the full range of normatively salient facts. This challenge can be addressed by modifying this notion of second nature to better account for its role in mitigating the limitations of first nature captured by the notion of bounded of rationality. From this modified perspective, second nature is inherently shaped by the norms structuring one's role(s) and is linked to the complementary set of roles, that is, the organization, in which one is participating through the virtue of loyalty. Within this perspective, human cognitive limitations are made to be strengths, allowing one to focus on a narrow set of reasons for action linked with one's role to better achieve salient aims as a member of the organization than one could as an isolated individual.
After Determinate Content: Reading MacIntyre as an Inferentialist "[W]e have not yet fully unders... more After Determinate Content: Reading MacIntyre as an Inferentialist "[W]e have not yet fully understood the claims of any moral philosophy until we have spelled out what its social embodiment would be."-Alasdair MacIntyre (2007: 23) Along with a handful of other philosophical texts, perhaps Heidegger's ([1953] 2010) Being and Time and Rawls's (1971) A Theory of Justice, MacIntyre's (2007) After Virtue (hereafter AV) has transformed the subsequent philosophical debate, especially within moral philosophy, political theory, and business ethics. In a particularly poignant manner, MacIntyre gave voice to a range of concerns and criticisms involving both academic moral philosophy and contemporary liberal politics that have remained influential. On the whole, this involved a dissatisfaction with the individualism, emotivism, and reductivism that, to a large degree, served as the backdrop for both academic and practical discussions. And like other groundbreaking texts, AV has attracted many, if not more, critics than sympathetic readers. However, critics and defenders alike have often failed to note MacIntyre's distinctiveness. Critics have argued that AV is nothing more than a form of nostalgia (Lilla), a longing for a simpler time, or worse, that it is merely a crude return to a premodern metaphysical perspective, where ethical debated by appeal to some concepton of human nature (Pippin). MacIntyre's defenders have often been all to happy to accept these charges, at times arguing emphatically that the modernity is the problem (Gregory), or enthusiastically grouping MacIntyre's (2007) approach with that of other neo-Aristotelians or Thomists who adopt a very different method. In this paper, I offer a philosophical reconstruction of MacIntyre's method in AV. More specifically, I will argue that MacIntyre can and should be read as a type of inferentialist. Inferentialism is both a philosophy of language (Brandom, 2014) and a philosophical method (Brandom, 2019; Moyar, 2021) concerned with deriving content from inferences, which has broadly Hegelian roots. In this paper, my concern is not directly with the philosophy of language or with Hegel, but rather is to suggest that recent discussions of inferentialism offer an insightful way of reading AV. Accordingly, I first argue that MacIntyre's concern in AV is fundamentally centered on the issue of moral content (Moyar, ??), the question, that is, of how moral terms or concepts have determinate content. I then briefly outline two types of inferential, as a philosophical method, as found in the work of Robert Brandom and Dean Moyar, before arguing that AV can and should be read as employing a similar method. As such, my claim is that MacIntyre's method in AV is a form of inferentialism.