ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the quality of morality. It then discusses the impact of morality upon policy and what moral training and practice are about. Moral mandates are regarded by their carriers as superior and legitimate. The superiority of a moral command is evident in two of its distinctive qualities: Its autonomy and its priority. The second distinguishing mark of a moral code is its claim to legitimacy. This claim is sustained by a few linked characteristics and the chapter describes these in detail. Reasons given to legitimize a morality, like those that accord superiority, work independently of how things "really are". They function to combat how one ordinarily would act if his/her dispositions were not bridled with ethical restraints. The emotional fuel of moral sentiment is a function, in part, of a human nature that is tuned to detect imminent danger and, in part, a result of the manner in which a distinctive morality is acquired.
