ABSTRACT
To judge a particular action to be valid because it is instance of a self-evident moral principle and to judge a social practice to be undesirable because it tolerates avoidable suffering are not two entirely different kinds of rational activities. For in both the cases that which is given is judged in terms of an ideal, the only difference being that the principle ‘a promise ought to be kept’ embodies a relatively specific ideal. An abstract conception then can be defined by explaining how the objects to which it applies differ in a characteristic way from objects. This shows that a process of reflection is a process where reason is employed; and if so, reflection on the logic of moral concepts (which embody our experiences of moral distinctions) is a rational process. A moral quality or characteristic is likewise a higher-order quality which is discerned to be what it is because of—or as a consequence of—our noticing certain other things.
