ABSTRACT
Every day we make moral judgments on all sorts of things-some on crucial issues and others on more inconsequential matters. We evaluate another person’s conduct when we say, “He ought not have done that,” or “She ought to take her studies more seriously,” or “He should be more careful.” We decide about our own conduct when we are in a bind with our studies, when we have to deal with someone we do not like, when we encounter a homeless person asking for money, or when we respond positively or negatively to a charitable agency’s appeal for a contribution. We make a judgment about a current social problem when we say, “He ought to get out and find a job,” or “That poor person doesn’t have a ghost of a chance of getting a job with the economy the way it is.” We make a pronouncement on a political issue when we say, “We need to reform our justice system,” or “We should spend more money on medical research,” or “We ought to drop a bomb on those people.”
