5 Traits of Morality A Central feature of morality is the moral principle.

We have already noted that moral principles are practical guides to action that differ from legal statutes, rules of etiquette, and even religious rules. We must say a word about the features of moral principles. Although there is no universal agreement on which traits a moral principle must process, the following traits have received widespread attention !"# prescriptivity, !$# universali%ability, !&# overridingness, !'# publicity, !5# practicability. (rescriptivity (rescriptivity refers to the practical or action)guiding nature of morality. Moral principles are generally put forth as in*unction or imperatives !for e+ample, ,-o not .ill,/ ,-o no unnecessary harm,/ and ,0ove your neighbor/#. They are intended for use, to advise and to influence to action. (rescriptivity shares this trait with all normative discourse. 1etroactively, this feature is used to appraise behavior, to assign praise and blame, and to produce feelings of satisfaction of guilt. We will discuss this topic further in Chapter 2. 3niversali%ability Moral principles must apply to all who are in the relevantly similar situation. 4f one *udges that act 5 is right for a certain person (, then it is right for anyone relevantly similar to (. This trait is e+emplified in the 6old 1ule, 7-o unto others what you would them do unto you !if you were in their shoes#8 and in the formal (rinciple of 9ustice, 74t cannot be right for A to treat : in a manner in which it would be wrong for : to treat A, merely on the ground that they are two different individuals, and without there being any difference between the natures or circumstances of the two which can be stated as a reasonable ground for difference of treatment.8 3niverali%abilty applies to all evaluative *udgments. 4f 4 say that 5 is a good ;, then 4 am logically committed to *udge that anything relevantly similar to 5 is a good ;. This feature is an e+tension of the principle of consistency <ne ought to be consistent about one/s value *udgements, including one/s moral *udgements. We will loo. further at this trait in Chapters = and 2. <verridingnessMoral principles have hegemonic authority. They are not the only principles, but they ta.e precedence over other considerations, including aesthetic, prudential, and legal ones. (aul 6auguin may have been aesthetically *ustified in abandoning his family in order to devote his life to painting beautiful (acific

island pictures, but morally, or all things considered, he probably was not *ustified. 4t may be prudent to lie to save my reputation, but it probably is morally wrong to do so, in which case 4 should tell the truth. When the law becomes egregiously immoral, it may be my moral duty to e+ercise civil disobedience. There is a general moral duty to obey the law, because the law serves an overall moral purpose, and this overall purpose may give us moral reason to obey laws that may not be moral or ideal> however, there may come a time when the in*ustice of a bad law is intolerable and hence calls for illegal but moral defiance !such as the antebellum laws in the ?outh requiring citi%ens to return slaves to their owners#. 1eligion is a special case, and the religious person may be morally *ustified in following a perceived command from 6od to brea. a normal moral life. The @ua.ers/ pacifist religious beliefs may cause them to renege on an obligation to fight for their country. 1eligious morality is morality, and ethics recogni%es its legitimacy. We will say more about this in Chapter "A. (ublicity Moral principles must be made public in order to ply an action)guiding role in our lives. :ecause we use principles to prescribe behavior, to give advice, and to assign praise and blame, it would be self)defeating to .eep them a secret. <ccasionally, a utilitarian will argue that it would be better if some people did not .now or try to follow the correct principles, but even they would have a higher) order principle B or some reason for this e+ception B subsuming this special case. Practicability A moral system must be wor.able> its rules must not lay a heavy burden on agents. The philosopher 9ohn 1awls spea.s of the 7strains of commitment8 that overly idealistic principles may cause in average moral agents. 4t might be desirable to have a morality en*oining more altruism, but the result of such principles could be moral despair, too much guilt, and ineffective action. (racticability may be the cause of the differences between ethical standards over time and place. Cor instance, there is discrepancy in the :ible between <ld Testament ethics and Dew Testament ethics on such topics as divorce and the treatment of one/s enemy. 9esus e+plained the difference in the first case by saying that it was because of society/s hardness of heart that god permitted divorce in pre)Christian times. 4n the second case he pointed toward a time when it would be a valid principle that people would love their enemies and pray for those who despitefully use them, and he en*oined his disciples to begin living this ideal morality. Most ethical stems ta.e human limitations into consideration. As said at the outset, these traits are generally held by moral philosophers as necessary to valid moral principles, but here is disagreement over them, and a full discussion would lead to a great deal of

qualification. These traits should give you an idea of the general features of moral principles, however.