--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A striking feature of moral and political…" description: "\"A striking feature of moral and political argument in the modern world is the extent to which it is innovators, radicals, and revolutionaries who reviv..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1d/alasdair-macintyre-14695_argument_a-striking-feature-of-moral-and-politica_1275572.jpg" --- # A striking feature of moral and political argument in the… ![“A striking feature of moral and political argument in the modern world is the extent to which it is innovators, radicals, and revolutionaries who revive old doctrines, while their conservative and reactionary opponents are the inventors of new ones.” quote by Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1d/alasdair-macintyre-14695_argument_a-striking-feature-of-moral-and-politica_1275572.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1d/alasdair-macintyre-14695_argument_a-striking-feature-of-moral-and-politica_1275572.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1d/alasdair-macintyre-14695_argument_a-striking-feature-of-moral-and-politica_1275572.jpg) > “A striking feature of moral and political argument in the modern world is the extent to which it is innovators, radicals, and revolutionaries who revive old doctrines, while their conservative and reactionary opponents are the inventors of new ones.” [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Innovation often revives old ideas, while conservatives create new doctrines, reversing expected roles. **In simple terms:** Old ideas get renewed by radicals; conservatives invent new ones. Key Takeaway Question assumptions about who drives change. Themes politics innovation tradition Mood critical analytical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - policy reform - academic debate - social movements - cultural shifts Key Concepts social theory ideology dialectics Questions to Reflect On - Who truly shapes progress? - How do we balance tradition and novelty? A Different Perspective New ideas may lack depth if merely reactionary. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Argument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument/) [Argument Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument-modern-4104044/) [Conservative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservative/) [Doctrine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctrine/) [Europe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/europe/) [Features](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/features/) [Innovators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innovators/) [Innovators Radicals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innovators-radicals-4104042/) [Inventor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inventor/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Modern world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-world/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Opponents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opponents/) [Opponents Inventors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opponents-inventors-4104045/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political arguments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-arguments/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Radical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radical/) [Radicals Revolutionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radicals-revolutionaries-4104043/) [Reactionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reactionaries/) [Rebellious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rebellious/) [Revive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revive/) [Revolutionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutionaries/) [Revolutionary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutionary/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmeline-pankhurst/the-argument-of-the-broken-window-pane-is-the-most-valuable-argument/) [Emmeline Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmeline-pankhurst/) > [Any comprehensive doctrine, religious or secular, can be introduced into any political argument at any time, but I argue that people who do this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-rawls/any-comprehensive-doctrine-religious-or-secular-can-be-introduced/) [John Rawls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-rawls/) > [“Many professionals have to sign gagging clauses or face the sack if they speak out. 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As the theoretical classes were filling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-padura-fuentes/in-just-a-few-weeks-soldier-13-became-aware-of-a-mutation-in-the/) [Leonardo Padura Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-padura-fuentes/) > [Red lines are kind of political arguments that are used to try to put people in a corner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-panetta/red-lines-are-kind-of-political-arguments-that-are-used-to-try-to-put/) [Leon Panetta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-panetta/) > [In the French culture, they talk politics. I didn't find it was part of our culture to have political arguments at the table. My…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-raver/in-the-french-culture-they-talk-politics-i-didn-t-find-it-was-part-of/) [Kim Raver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-raver/) > [“The social intuitionist model offers an explanation of why moral and political arguments are so frustrating: because moral reasons are the tail wagged by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/the-social-intuitionist-model-offers-an-explanation-of-why-moral-and/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [I think it's always dangerous to make political arguments in a religiously ideological way. And it's very dangerous to treat as traitors to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-michnik/i-think-it-s-always-dangerous-to-make-political-arguments-in-a/) [Adam Michnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-michnik/) > [I am such a coward when it comes to political arguments. I tend to sort of recoil rather than engage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lithgow/i-am-such-a-coward-when-it-comes-to-political-arguments-i-tend-to/) [John Lithgow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lithgow/) ## More by Alasdair MacIntyre > [The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred occupy almost all the available culturally recognizable roles, the notions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-aesthete-the-therapist-the/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Modern politics is civil war carried on by other means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/modern-politics-is-civil-war-carried-on-by-other-means/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“the characterization of actions allegedly prior to any narrative form being imposed upon them will always turn out to be the presentation of what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-characterization-of-actions-allegedly-prior-to-any-narrative-form/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“Indeed, one of the functions of the structures of normality is that by making it unnecessary for almost everybody almost all the time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/indeed-one-of-the-functions-of-the-structures-of-normality-is-that-by/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Facts, like telescopes and wigs for gentlemen, were a seventeenth century invention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/facts-like-telescopes-and-wigs-for-gentlemen-were-a-seventeenth/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [The good life for man is the life spent in seeking for the good life for man, and the virtues necessary for the seeking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-good-life-for-man-is-the-life-spent-in-seeking-for-the-good-life/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Those emotive theorists who said that the function of moral utterance was to evince emotion would... have been correct if they had substituted the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/those-emotive-theorists-who-said-that-the-function-of-moral-utterance/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Charles II once invited the members of the Royal Society to explain to him why a dead fish weighs more than the same fish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/charles-ii-once-invited-the-members-of-the-royal-society-to-explain/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Morality which is no particular socity's morality is to be found nowhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/morality-which-is-no-particular-socity-s-morality-is-to-be-found/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“The true genre of the life is neither hagiography nor saga, but tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-true-genre-of-the-life-is-neither-hagiography-nor-saga-but-tragedy/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [What our laws show is the extent and degree to which conflict has to be suppressed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/what-our-laws-show-is-the-extent-and-degree-to-which-conflict-has-to/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Modern systematic politics, whether liberal, conservative, radical, or socialist, simply has to be rejected from a standpoint that owes genuine allegiance to the tradition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/modern-systematic-politics-whether-liberal-conservative-radical-or/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“unless there is a telos which transcends the limited goods of practices by constituting the good of a whole human life, the good of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/unless-there-is-a-telos-which-transcends-the-limited-goods-of/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Traditions, when vital, embody continuities of conflict. Indeed when a tradition becomes Burkean, it is always dying or dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/traditions-when-vital-embody-continuities-of-conflict-indeed-when-a/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [The attempted professionalization of serious and systematic thinking has had a disastrous effect upon our culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-attempted-professionalization-of-serious-and-systematic-thinking/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) [Explore all 45 Alasdair MacIntyre quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) ## More Argument quotes > [A flourishing, morally credible media is a vital component in the maintenance of genuinely public talk, argument about common good.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-williams/a-flourishing-morally-credible-media-is-a-vital-component-in-the/) [Rowan Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-williams/) > [Preaching to the choir actually arms the choir with arguments and elevates the choir's discourse. 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