English to Romanian Art/Literary Philosophy

The American philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre notes how ethical inquiry that fails to consider man's telos (or end) leads to this kind of negative perception of morality. In his book After Virtue, MacIntyre identifies three elements of the Aristotelian tradition of ethics that often are not considered in unison today:

1. ***Man-as-he-happens-to-be***: This refers to man's present state weighed down by untrained human nature with its various desires, emotions, weaknesses and vices.

2. Man-as-he-could-be-if-he-realized-his- telos: This considers the purpose of a human life—what sort of person am I to become? Man's telos (or end) is the "good life" in which man achieves his potential by living life with excellence.

3. Ethics: This considers how to move from the first to the second element. It examines how human nature's disordered emotions and desires can be trained so that one can transition from man's present state (manas- he-happens-to-be) to his telos.