ABSTRACT
It is a surprising fact that moral philosophers have rarely examined the distinction between what the author shall call ‘positive’ or ‘social’ morality on the one hand and ‘autonomous’ or ‘individual’ morality on the other. There are two points of view from which we may make statements about the law or morality of a group. Now the distinction between external and internal uses of language is one which is made within the concept of social morality. Now autonomous moral judgements admit of two different uses, a supervenient use and a non-supervenient use. It has sometimes been maintained that autonomous moral judgements have no ‘non-supervenient’ or ‘immediate’ use. The Establishment Moralist or Traditionalist urges that we should take our departure from tradition and give priority to existing institutions, existing moral rules. It only applies to the extremists on either side in so far as their positions can be expressed in the language of ‘wanting’ and ‘not wanting’.
