--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I can only answer the question ‘What am I…" description: "\"I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’\" — Alasdair Ma..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/alasdair-macintyre-14695_answers_i-can-only-answer-the-question-what-am-i_1204936.jpg" --- # I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can… ![“I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” quote by Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/alasdair-macintyre-14695_answers_i-can-only-answer-the-question-what-am-i_1204936.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/alasdair-macintyre-14695_answers_i-can-only-answer-the-question-what-am-i_1204936.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/alasdair-macintyre-14695_answers_i-can-only-answer-the-question-what-am-i_1204936.jpg) > “I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’” [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. Understanding one's role in a narrative is prerequisite to deciding what to do; identity shapes purpose. **In simple terms:** Know your story before acting. Key Takeaway Reflect on your narrative identity. Themes identity purpose decision-making Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career planning - personal growth - creative projects Key Concepts philosophy existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What story defines you? - How does that story guide your actions? A Different Perspective Stories can be ambiguous, making decisions hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Answer Prior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answer-prior-3628864/) [Answers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/answers/) [I can](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-can/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Prior Question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prior-question-3628865/) [Question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/question/) [Question Answer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/question-answer/) [Question Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/question-story-937474/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Truth Seeking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-seeking/) ## Related quotes > [“What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/what-am-i-to-do-if-i-can-answer-the-prior-question-of-what-story-or/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [What you are is a question only you can answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lois-mcmaster-bujold/what-you-are-is-a-question-only-you-can-answer/) [Lois McMaster Bujold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lois-mcmaster-bujold/) > [“It was a question now, rather than a statement; a question with no answer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/it-was-a-question-now-rather-than-a-statement-a-question-with-no/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [It's all a question of story. 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Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-g-jung/) > [Violence is never the answer, It is a question..and the answer is yes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/violence-is-never-the-answer-it-is-a-question-and-the-answer-is-yes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## 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 Answers quotes > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. 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It is a form of communication in which question and answer continue till a question is left without an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jiddu-krishnamurti/a-dialogue-is-very-important-it-is-a-form-of-communication-in-which/) [Jiddu Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jiddu-krishnamurti/) > [There is a comfort in rituals, and rituals provide a framework for stability when you are trying to find answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-norville/there-is-a-comfort-in-rituals-and-rituals-provide-a-framework-for/) [Deborah Norville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-norville/) > [A religious person answers to God, not to the elected or non-elected official.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/a-religious-person-answers-to-god-not-to-the-elected-or-non-elected/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [Let us remember that every worldview-not just Christianity's-must give an explanation or an answer for evil and suffering...this is not just a problem distinctive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/let-us-remember-that-every-worldview-not-just-christianity-s-must/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [Instead of asking a girl how she feels, try looking through her recently listened to songs. 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