Several studies are reviewed that examine differences in moral schema development using techniques intermediate between measuring implicit knowledge (such as with the DeŽ ning Issues Test) and explicit knowledge (such as with the Moral Judgment Interview). Findings include signiŽ cant differences in the comprehension of moral narratives based on age/education and on level of expertise. Also, in...

Identification figures prominently in moral psychological explanations. I argue that in identification the subject has an ‘identity-thought’, which is a thought about her numerical identity with the figure she identifies with. In Freud’s psychoanalytic psychology character is founded on unconscious identification with parental figures. Moral philosophers have drawn on psychoanalysis to explain ...

When explaining someone’s behavior, reference is often made to Theory of Mind concepts like beliefs (”she believed it was the right thing to do”) or desires (”she wanted to”). Less appreciated is the explanatory potential for descriptive and prescriptive norms (e.g., ”she returned the wallet because it was the right thing to do”). One possibility is that norms serve as explanations only when me...

ive achievement has a double effect: under a strict deontological point of view, moral questions are taken out of their contexts in such a way that mora] solutions retain only the rationally motivating force of insights. 179 Moral Consciousness Communicative Action Moral issues are never raised for their own sake; people raise them seeking a guide for action. For this reason the demotivated sol...

Most critics of species egalitarianism point to its counter-intuitive implications in particular cases. But this argumentative strategy is vulnerable to the response that our intuitions should give way in the face of arguments showing that species egalitarianism is required by our deepest, most fundamental moral principles. In this article, I develop an argument against deontological versions o...