Abstract
“There are currents of moral ideas which are partly philosophical and partly something less precise, changes in public consciousness…
“It is certainly not easy, and perhaps it is not possible, to calculate the real effect upon men's lives of any new system of moral ideas and of any new philosophy…
“The more fundamental and overriding assessments, in relation to which all other assessments of persons are subsidiary and conditional, we call moral assessments, just because we count them as unconditional and overriding…When we assess ourselves or others in some limited role or capacity, as performing well or ill in that role or capacity, the assessment is not fundamental and unconditional: the assessment gives guidance only to someone who wants to have that role or to act in that capacity or who wants to make use of someone who does.” Stuart Hampshire (1973; italics added)
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