This study seeks to explore the notion of compartmentalization, drawing on the insights and perspectives offered by Alasdair MacIntyre in his last book Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity. I begin by examining several key passages in which he critiques compartmentalization as a phenomenon typical of advanced modernity (1). I then trace these insights back to their original psychological and sociological contexts, and I connect them to similar reflections found in MacIntyre’s earlier writings. This issue emerges as a fundamental concern throughout this philosophical work, one to which he has returned at various stages (2). Next, starting from MacIntyre’s theses, I highlight some of the “costs” that compartmentalization entails for moral life (3). Finally, I focus on the aspiration to restore philosophical enquiry to the unity of human life, beyond academic specialization and disciplinary fragmentation (4).
