Securus Judicat …?

Abstract

At the opening of a further chapter on the nature of ‘moral’ judgments, in this case of judgments collectively expressed, it may be helpful to remind ourselves with what a diversity of meanings we may use so familiar a word. A story may of course have a ‘moral’: and here we are dealing with a noun. We may speak too of a person’s ‘morals’ (again a noun), meaning the standards reflected in his behaviour—in distinction from his ‘moral code’ (an adjective this time), meaning the standards to which he would subscribe as being in his view the ‘right’ ones. Of a person very badly behaved, we may, alternatively to speaking adversely of his morals, say simply that he hasn’t any morals at all.