A Loss of Shared Teleology

Rod Dreher, with a little help from Alasdair MacIntyre, pins the source of the impasse in the gay marriage debate: a loss of a shared teleology, hence much of the mutual outrage we’ve been seeing on this issue (and others, too): “We no longer possess a belief that marriage has a purpose beyond itself, that it signifies something greater than the will of individuals wishing to be married. This is the result of a radically individualist culture that views ethical truths as little more than statements of preference. What we’ve lost is, to use a philosophical term, a teleology – that is, the belief that our actions are all geared toward a final goal, and must be judged by whether or not they lead toward, or away, from this goal. Absent a shared teleology, however general, our politics become even more fractious and combative, as rational argument – which democratic deliberation requires – becomes all but impossible.”