Before “After Virtue”: The Philosophy of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr by Mehdi Ali

In this research seminar, Ali highlighted the important but relatively unknown philosophical contributions of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, an influential 20th century Shia Islamic thinker from Iraq. He drew insightful parallels between al-Sadr’s ideas on morality and ethics and those of the modern philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. Ali noted how both thinkers are deeply critical of modernity and see potential in reviving and adapting Aristotelian virtue ethics to address contemporary moral problems. According to Ali, al-Sadr believed the Islamic ethical and moral tradition could provide solutions to problems created by the two dominant political philosophies of his time – capitalism and communism. Like MacIntyre, al-Sadr advocated forming small communities that consciously reject the values and institutions of modernity.