ABSTRACT
The principle of moral duty clearly implies that a morally good action, and a fortiori a morally good man, is of more value than the particular objects of our desires, the particular products of our actions, and even the attainment of our own happiness. When the moral principle of obeying a universal law for its own sake, and not for the sake of any gain to ourselves or others, is interpreted in terms of respect for human personality and the realization of a society of persons as ends in themselves, it becomes warmer and more vivid to our imagination, and although it still remains highly abstract it may seem to express better the motives on which good men act. Moral scepticism has often an intellectual basis. It may rest partly on the findings of particular sciences. In ethics, as in other subjects, we ought to distinguish between total and partial scepticism.
