--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The pathfinders of modern thought did not…" description: "\"The pathfinders of modern thought did not derive what is good from the law. ... Their role in history was not that of adapting their words and actions ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ac/max-horkheimer-16619_acceptance_the-pathfinders-of-modern-thought-did-no_2273398.jpg" --- # The pathfinders of modern thought did not derive what is… ![“The pathfinders of modern thought did not derive what is good from the law. ... Their role in history was not that of adapting their words and actions to the text of old documents or generally accepted doctrines: they themselves created the documents and brought about the acceptance of their…” quote by Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ac/max-horkheimer-16619_acceptance_the-pathfinders-of-modern-thought-did-no_2273398.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ac/max-horkheimer-16619_acceptance_the-pathfinders-of-modern-thought-did-no_2273398.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ac/max-horkheimer-16619_acceptance_the-pathfinders-of-modern-thought-did-no_2273398.jpg) > “The pathfinders of modern thought did not derive what is good from the law. ... Their role in history was not that of adapting their words and actions to the text of old documents or generally accepted doctrines: they themselves created the documents and brought about the acceptance of their doctrines.” [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Modern thinkers shape values by creating new ideas rather than merely interpreting old laws. **In simple terms:** Ideas are created, not just read. Key Takeaway Create new frameworks, don’t just follow old ones. Themes philosophy critical theory innovation Mood reflective critical Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - academic discourse - policy making - cultural reform - activism Key Concepts social construction authority agency Questions to Reflect On - How do you challenge established norms? - What responsibilities come with creating new ideas? A Different Perspective New doctrines may lack consensus and face resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Acceptance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptance/) [Accepted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepted/) [Action](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/action/) [Adapting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adapting/) [Doctrine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctrine/) [Doctrines Created](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctrines-created-5277926/) [Documents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/documents/) [Good Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-law-493797/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [History Adapting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history-adapting-5277927/) [Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/) [Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern/) [Modern Thought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-thought-1525458/) [Pathfinders Modern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pathfinders-modern-5277928/) [Roles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roles/) [Words and actions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/words-and-actions/) ## Related quotes > [“the problem of evil is the guiding force of modern thought.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-problem-of-evil-is-the-guiding-force-of-modern-thought/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [The kings of modern thought are dumb.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-arnold/the-kings-of-modern-thought-are-dumb/) [Matthew Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-arnold/) > [Modern thought has transferred the spectral character of Death to the notion of time itself. Time has become Death triumphant over all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/modern-thought-has-transferred-the-spectral-character-of-death-to-the/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Modern thought does not offer consolations, but upsets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/modern-thought-does-not-offer-consolations-but-upsets/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [We need to understand enough of modern thought to identify the ways it blocks us from living out the Gospel the way God intends,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nancy-pearcey/we-need-to-understand-enough-of-modern-thought-to-identify-the-ways/) [Nancy Pearcey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nancy-pearcey/) > [“Modernism, philosophically speaking, is in a sense the ‘‘worship’’ of time and the transient, a kind of deification of time and becoming and all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seyyed-hossein-nasr/modernism-philosophically-speaking-is-in-a-sense-the-worship-of-time/) [Seyyed Hossein Nasr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seyyed-hossein-nasr/) > [To regard all things and principles of things as inconstant modes or fashions has more and more become the tendency of modern thought.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-pater/to-regard-all-things-and-principles-of-things-as-inconstant-modes-or/) [Walter Pater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-pater/) > [From semantics to shipbuilding, from dream theory to propositional logic, any specialist ... is invariably astonished to discover that modern knowledge was foreshadowed at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucio-russo/from-semantics-to-shipbuilding-from-dream-theory-to-propositional/) [Lucio Russo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucio-russo/) > [“It is therefore no wonder that modern thought, to the extent that it reduces man from a spiritual to a purely biological entity, elevates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sanford-schwartz/it-is-therefore-no-wonder-that-modern-thought-to-the-extent-that-it/) [Sanford Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sanford-schwartz/) > [The wheel of the Good Law moves swiftly on. It grinds by night and day. The worthless husks it drives from out the golden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-blavatsky/the-wheel-of-the-good-law-moves-swiftly-on-it-grinds-by-night-and-day/) [H. P. Blavatsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-blavatsky/) > [Vagueness and good law are simply incompatible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-miller/vagueness-and-good-law-are-simply-incompatible/) [Gina Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-miller/) > [You cannot make men good by law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/you-cannot-make-men-good-by-law/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Good law includes a commitment to transparency and an insistence that no person or entity with a conflict of interest should have influence on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-romer/good-law-includes-a-commitment-to-transparency-and-an-insistence-that/) [Paul Romer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-romer/) > [The agreement of the parties cannot make that good which the law maketh void.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-coke/the-agreement-of-the-parties-cannot-make-that-good-which-the-law/) [Edward Coke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-coke/) > [Common sense often makes good law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/common-sense-often-makes-good-law/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) ## More by Max Horkheimer > [Philosophy is overwhelmingly complicated, its procedure depressingly slow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/philosophy-is-overwhelmingly-complicated-its-procedure-depressingly/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [The inversion of external compulsion into the compulsion of conscience ... produces the machine-like assiduity and pliable allegiance required by the new rationality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/the-inversion-of-external-compulsion-into-the-compulsion-of/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [The endeavor of scientific research to see events in their more general connection in order to determine their laws, is a legitimate and useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/the-endeavor-of-scientific-research-to-see-events-in-their-more/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [Pragmatism ... reflects with almost disarming candor the spirit of the prevailing business culture, the very same attitude of 'being practical' as counter to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/pragmatism-reflects-with-almost-disarming-candor-the-spirit-of-the/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [At present, when the prevailing forms of society have become hindrances to the free expression of human powers, it is precisely the abstract branches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-horkheimer/at-present-when-the-prevailing-forms-of-society-have-become/) [Max Horkheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-horkheimer/) > [The quality of the human that precludes identifying the individual with the class is 'metaphysical' and has no place in empiricist epistemology. 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Because how else do we accept His free gift of salvation if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-voskamp/we-only-enter-into-the-full-life-if-our-faith-gives-thanks-because/) [Ann Voskamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-voskamp/) > [You dont choose your life; it chooses you. Theres no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/you-dont-choose-your-life-it-chooses-you-theres-no-point-asking-why/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Losing someone is easy, but accepting it is hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/losing-someone-is-easy-but-accepting-it-is-hard/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When one fib becomes due as it were, you must forge another to take up the old acceptance; and so the stock of your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/when-one-fib-becomes-due-as-it-were-you-must-forge-another-to-take-up/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [Acceptance of death when it arrives is one thing, but to allow it to upstage the joys of living is ingratitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-blythe/acceptance-of-death-when-it-arrives-is-one-thing-but-to-allow-it-to/) [Ronald Blythe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-blythe/) > [“Loving someone who does not love you back hurts, alot, i know. It is liking seeing these pair of shoes at the retail store…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nomthandazo-tsembeni/loving-someone-who-does-not-love-you-back-hurts-alot-i-know-it-is/) [Nomthandazo Tsembeni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nomthandazo-tsembeni/) > [Take responsibily for your past, the bad memories of poor decisions you took were your choices once, and you liked them for the moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aruho-marvin/take-responsibily-for-your-past-the-bad-memories-of-poor-decisions/) [Aruho Marvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aruho-marvin/) > [Let us learn to accept and appreciate things now, and we'll find more happiness in every moment we live. Happiness comes when we stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glen-rambharack/let-us-learn-to-accept-and-appreciate-things-now-and-we-ll-find-more/) [Glen Rambharack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glen-rambharack/) > [“Love first; ask questions later.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-courtney/love-first-ask-questions-later/) [Jeremy Courtney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-courtney/) > [“There was beauty in chaos, she'd just never known it before.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-linsmeier/there-was-beauty-in-chaos-she-d-just-never-known-it-before/) [Amanda Linsmeier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-linsmeier/) > [Accepting the challenges in life makes it interesting and overcoming them makes it eloquent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/accepting-the-challenges-in-life-makes-it-interesting-and-overcoming/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Acceptance is the only thing you should teach. Be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Dalit, you must inculcate acceptance, not tolerance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamal-haasan/acceptance-is-the-only-thing-you-should-teach-be-it-christian-muslim/) [Kamal Haasan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamal-haasan/) > [There just seems to be more acceptance now of other kinds of British films, than the picture-postcard ones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-roth/there-just-seems-to-be-more-acceptance-now-of-other-kinds-of-british/) [Tim Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-roth/) > [You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. 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