Introduction

But Toulmin’s language tends to suggest that moral concepts are used by us as so many tools for making social existence possible, which is saying, in effect, that morality is a handmaid of sociality. But if we understand morality we understand that all these might make a difference to the keeping of specific promise that has been made. The suitability that a principle embodies is thus suitability of general kind which has been conceived somewhat in abstraction from specific circumstances present in specific instances of promise-keeping. The principle of self-improvement is also consistent with the requirement of morality, in as much as when we want to improve ourselves—in order that we may have as worthwhile a life as possible. Similarly, moral principles may be looked upon as manifestations of same point of view, namely that of morality, but representing different levels in our conceptions of human needs and suitabilities of types of actions to features of situations involving such needs.