ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to discuss the question of whether or not the language used in description and explanation of human action is essentially moral language. It argues that the situation can best be described as a continuum of kinds of discourse, rather than by assuming a strict dichotomy between moral language and morally neutral language. Insofar as the present concern is with the language of actions, the concentration will be on the issue of alternative descriptions of actions, rather than on the psychological issue of different perceptions or views of the same action. Although the notions of responsibility and freedom may be inapplicable in some contexts and applicable in others, the question of providing psychological laws is never inapplicable, under some description which might be given of the action. Viewed as a continuum along which action-descriptions can be given, the problematic area lies in the middle, where motive concepts and emotion concepts are typically employed.
