ABSTRACT
This chapter examines one possible method of justifying or defending conduct; a method which consists in showing that the conduct is in accordance with the relevant rules. An essential feature of rules is that they are to some degree and in certain respects general in their application. Good manners, however, are not confined to the following of a code of rules, i.e. manners are not co-extensive with etiquette. Some actions, one might say, are natural signs of politeness or rudeness, as opposed to artificial or conventional signs; and with the former, unlike the latter, there is no need for a set of rules to connect the behaviour with the politeness or rudeness of which it is a sign. It is open to the believer in the essential rationality of rule-guided conduct to regard moral rules as conditional, i.e. as laying down the best means for achieving a certain end or ends.
