--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What matters at this stage is the…" description: "\"What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/alasdair-macintyre-14695_able_what-matters-at-this-stage-is-the-constr_2966307.jpg" --- # What matters at this stage is the construction of local… ![“What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. And if the tradition of the virtues was able to survive the horrors of the last dark ages, we…” quote by Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/alasdair-macintyre-14695_able_what-matters-at-this-stage-is-the-constr_2966307.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/alasdair-macintyre-14695_able_what-matters-at-this-stage-is-the-constr_2966307.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c9e/alasdair-macintyre-14695_able_what-matters-at-this-stage-is-the-constr_2966307.jpg) > “What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. And if the tradition of the virtues was able to survive the horrors of the last dark ages, we are not entirely without ground for hope. This time however the barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers; they have already been governing us for quite some time.” [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. Communities must be built now to preserve civility and moral life amid emerging crises. **In simple terms:** Build local community to sustain values in troubled times. Key Takeaway Focus on forming supportive local groups. Themes community virtue resilience hope civilization Mood concerned determined Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - neighbourhood activism - online forums - local governance - educational circles Key Concepts social contract moral philosophy public sphere Questions to Reflect On - How can local initiatives influence broader societal change? - What values should guide these new communities? A Different Perspective Even strong local ties may not stop larger systemic decay. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Able](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Barbarians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbarians/) [Barbarians Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/barbarians-waiting-4544101/) [Civility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civility/) [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Community Civility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community-civility-4544100/) [Construction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/construction/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Dark ages](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark-ages/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Frontiers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/frontiers/) [Governing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/governing/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Horror](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horror/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Locals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/locals/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-life/) [Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stage/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Tradition Virtues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition-virtues-4544099/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Virtues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtues/) [Waiting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waiting/) [What matters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/what-matters/) ## Related quotes > [A crucial turning point in that earlier history occurred when men and women of good will turned aside from the task of shoring up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/a-crucial-turning-point-in-that-earlier-history-occurred-when-men-and/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Not only our moral life, but even our use of theoretical reason - on which we rely in rationally inquiring into nature - presupposes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allen-w-wood/not-only-our-moral-life-but-even-our-use-of-theoretical-reason-on/) [Allen W. 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As a people, we need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-lieberman/while-so-much-of-our-economic-life-is-thriving-too-much-of-our-moral/) [Joe Lieberman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-lieberman/) > [The Buddha takes no position on gods, he suggests they may exist or they may not, but either way you can live a moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-buddha-takes-no-position-on-gods-he-suggests-they-may-exist-or/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [In mature years I have always been gregarious, a lover of my kind, dependent upon the company of friends for the very pulse of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-gosse/in-mature-years-i-have-always-been-gregarious-a-lover-of-my-kind/) [Edmund Gosse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-gosse/) > [We may not need God to tell us where the world came from, but we need God to be able to live moral lives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/we-may-not-need-god-to-tell-us-where-the-world-came-from-but-we-need/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [The essential thing, the ultimate goal of politics and thought, is a bigger life for the individual. A bigger life – that remains the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roberto-unger/the-essential-thing-the-ultimate-goal-of-politics-and-thought-is-a/) [Roberto Unger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roberto-unger/) > [Enthusiasm is always connected with the senses, whatever be the object that excites it. The true strength of virtue is serenity of mind, combined…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/enthusiasm-is-always-connected-with-the-senses-whatever-be-the-object/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [“Pope Alexander smiled. He seemed more amused with the story than horrified. "The Baglioni are true believers," he said. "They believe in paradise. Such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mario-puzo/pope-alexander-smiled-he-seemed-more-amused-with-the-story-than/) [Mario Puzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mario-puzo/) > [“There is an intimate connection between our moral life and our intellectual life. Sometimes I think the history of our times can be described…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-v-schall/there-is-an-intimate-connection-between-our-moral-life-and-our/) [James V. Schall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-v-schall/) > [You cannot live a political life, you cannot live a moral life if you're not willing to open your eyes and see the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/you-cannot-live-a-political-life-you-cannot-live-a-moral-life-if-you/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [What more does man want to know than that the hand or power that made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/what-more-does-man-want-to-know-than-that-the-hand-or-power-that-made/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) ## 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 Able quotes > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [In the '80s, the way radio was programmed, if you didn't have a hit record you weren't going to be able to make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huey-lewis/in-the-80s-the-way-radio-was-programmed-if-you-didn-t-have-a-hit/) [Huey Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huey-lewis/) > [I think I've had the longest career of strength, focus, and still being able to sell records. I think I'm that guy. I'm still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/i-think-i-ve-had-the-longest-career-of-strength-focus-and-still-being/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [I have that need in me, I want everyone to love me, but I'm embarrassed by that need, so I wanted to cover it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-jeselnik/i-have-that-need-in-me-i-want-everyone-to-love-me-but-i-m-embarrassed/) [Anthony Jeselnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-jeselnik/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [I wanted to remember in order to be able to return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/i-wanted-to-remember-in-order-to-be-able-to-return/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) [Greg Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-perry/) > [I don't know if I would qualify as mainstream. I think I have managed to function pretty successfully on the fringes of the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-metheny/i-don-t-know-if-i-would-qualify-as-mainstream-i-think-i-have-managed/) [Pat Metheny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-metheny/) > [What we're supposed to do as actors is be able to portray real human beings and emotions. And if you grow up in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-browning/what-we-re-supposed-to-do-as-actors-is-be-able-to-portray-real-human/) [Emily Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-browning/) > [The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at the intersection of technology and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-jobs/the-reason-that-apple-is-able-to-create-products-like-ipad-is-because/) [Steve Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-jobs/) > [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [- You look fine. - Right. I look fine. Except I don't, said Zora, tugging sadly at her man's nightshirt. This was why Kiki…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zadie-smith/you-look-fine-right-i-look-fine-except-i-don-t-said-zora-tugging/) [Zadie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zadie-smith/) > [There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracee-ellis-ross/there-is-a-way-to-be-a-woman-ask-for-what-we-deserve-and-be-able-to/) [Tracee Ellis Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracee-ellis-ross/) [Browse all 17,257 Able quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/able/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What matters at this stage is the construction of local forms of community within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us. And if the tradition of the virtues was able to survive the horrors of the last dark ages, we are not entirely without ground for hope. 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