Sublime

Level 2. Conventional Morality Those who are at this level judge the morality of actions by comparing them to society’s views and expectations.

It’s what we must use to decide what to do in each and every phase of life. Morality can be complicated—but the right thing is usually clear and intuitive enough to feel in our gut.

Progress, properly understood, has, indeed, a most dignified and legitimate meaning. But as used in opposition to precise moral ideals, it is ludicrous.

Telling the truth, keeping promises, being fair, and respecting others are all examples of actions that are inherently good, independent of the consequences.

A philosophical problem can best be talked about using terms like ought and shouldn’t.

The moral conduct of the average man was thus deprived of its planless and unsystematic character and subjected to a consistent method for conduct as a whole.