The Nature and Relevance of Alasdair Macintyre’s Virtue Ethics to Politics and Political Participation in Nigeria

Abstract

The intention of any state to adopt a democratic system of government must have been in the interest of the general populace to attain excellent flourishing and excellent functioning. This paper seeks to present certain moral truths to political reality as regards politics and political participation in Nigeria, using the philosophical postulations of Alasdair Macintyre. Alasdair Macintyre’s virtue ethics has drawn much attention from both moral and political philosophers; he is one of the leading contemporary figures in virtue ethics. His moral philosophy is very distinctive because of its place in the history of ideas, and more so because he is providing answers to very critical questions. Nigerian politics and political participation are also seen or considered lacking the expected moral and acceptable virtues to attain excellence, flourishing, and excellent functioning to achieve acceptable consideration by human agents, as considered by Alasdair Macintyre in several ways. This research seeks to explore the works of Alasdair Macintyre, propose solutions to Nigerian politics and political participation, and advance the right moral virtues to enable politics and political participation in Nigeria to flourish and function excellently. The research seeks to apply Alasdair Macintyre’s virtue ethics to find answers to tropical questions concerning politics and political participation in Nigeria. What is the Nigerian project as regards politics and political participation? This is what this paper tries to unravel. Keywords: Ethics; Virtue Ethics; Politics; Political Participation.