Processes Of Conscience: How The Moral Mind Works

Abstract

Our minds have evolved with a moral sense, a capacity for viewing the world and ourselves in moral terms.² The capacity for a moral sense is universal, but it varies substantively—within certain boundaries—across different cultures, groups, and societies. Human beings draw Bright Lines and are motivated by Bright Lights, and the most important of these socially learned moral signposts become internalized and viewed as core to a person’s sense of self (see Chapter 8). We feel authentic when following our Brightest Lights and feel morally deficient if we cross a Bright Line.

Morality is pervasive, in the sense that no voluntary human action is in principle resistant to moral assessment.

Samuel Scheffler¹