 As MacIntyre has it, no rule exists apart from its application (and he admits that his argument entails the rejection of any conception of moral principles or rules as timeless and ahistorical). Often times, he suggests, it appears as though agreements among a group of decision makers is being reached through rational argumentation, but in fact often group members are reopening debates about perennial philosophical questions. This is particularly so in medical ethics, MacIntyre tells us. Our common conception of applied ethics does indeed rest on a mistake (MacIntyre 1984).