ABSTRACT
The theory of the emotional origin of moral judgments the author is advocating does not imply that such a judgment affirms the existence of a moral emotion in the mind of the person who utters it: he may do so without feeling any emotion at all. Most people follow very simple method in judging of an act. Particular modes of conduct have their traditional labels, many of which are learned with language itself; and moral judgment commonly consists simply in labelling act according to certain obvious characteristics which it presents in common with others belonging to the same group. The notion embodied in "ought" is frequently looked upon as ultimate and unanalyzable. Nobody would ever have dreamt of laying down a moral rule if the idea of its transgression had not presented itself to his mind. The concept of "right", as implying that the opposite mode of conduct would have been wrong, ultimately derives its moral significance from moral disapproval.
