ABSTRACT
Moral theories necessarily share common features with other theories. One of the most fundamental shared features of theories, in general, is their reliance on “extra-theoretical” presuppositions. The “extra-theoretical” presuppositions of explicit moral theorems appear to take implicit form in image and, more fundamentally, in action. Moral behaviors and schemas of valuation arise as a consequence of behavioral interaction undertaken in the social world: every individual, motivated to regulate his emotions through action, modifies the behavior of others, operating in the same environment. The consequence of this mutual modification, operating over time, is the emergence of a stable pattern of behavior, “designed” to match individual and social needs, simultaneously. Eventually, this behavioral pattern comes to be coded in image, heralded in narrative, and explicitly represented in words. In the integrated individual—or the integrated state—action, imagination and explicit verbal thought are isomorphic: explicit and image-mediated beliefs and actual behaviors form a coherent unit. Verbal theories of morality (explicit rules) match traditional images of moral behavior, and action undertaken remains in concordance with both. This integrated morality lends predictability to behavior, constitutes the basis for the stable state, and helps ensure that emotion remains under control.
