Sentence examples for general moral rules from inspiring English sources

The focus on interpersonal morality showed that general moral rules, which some traditional ethical theories strove to develop, were rather crude instruments for conducting a moral life.

The secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has said that a sovereign ruler has to obey some general moral rules.

We then turn to how narratives compete with imperatives (general moral rules or precepts) as alternative modes of communication to persuade agents to behave in desirable ways.

Changeux cites how 4-year-old children distinguish social conventions such as dietary taboos, which they see as applying only to specific social groups, from universally obligatory moral rules against robbery, murder, slander &c (p. 77)—a distinction he hopes will help us form general moral rules applicable to all humanity, not just one tribe or nation (p. 79).

He insists that general moral rules are "founded upon experience of what, in particular instances, our moral faculties, our natural sense of merit and propriety, approve, or disapprove of" (159; see also 160 and 320), and that our notions of right and wrong bottom out in these reactions to particular cases (320; see also 187 and Gill forthcoming).

In deciding how to act, we should not try to assess individual acts for their specific consequences; instead, we should follow certain general moral rules such as "Do not kill" and "Keep promises," which are such that adhering to them will most promote the good through time.

Interestingly, the findings also showed that children distinguish between religious rules and universal moral rules.

Another way is by having recourse to role morality: within morality itself there are general moral principles, rules etc. and then special moral requirements dictated by significant social roles.

He wants "unity of purpose"; "energy that could be harnessed through unity of purpose and values is frittered away". Where there is one common all-overriding end there is no room for any general morals or rules.

Where there is one common all-overriding end there is no room for any general morals or rules....[W]here a few specific ends dominate the whole of society, it is inevitable that occasionally cruelty may become a duty, that acts which revolt all our feelings, such as the shooting of hostages or the killing of the old or sick, should be treated as mere matters of expediency...

However, deductive hedonism fails because, contrary to what deductive hedonists like Spencer think, no general science of the causes of pleasure and pain exists, insuring that we will never succeed in formulating universal, indefeasible moral rules for promoting happiness.