What is Morality?
Morality has the following components: Collective values. The individual internalization of collective values. The assumption that collective values are objective, and thus “moral”. A folk theory of morality. Individual and collective moral myths. To understand morality, you need to understand how these components fit together into a system. In this essay, I will describe each component and how it relates to the others. Collective Values As individuals, we naturally make value judgments about what is good or bad for ourselves. For example, a man might want to marry a beautiful woman. He views that outcome as good for himself. In other words, he values it positively. Individual values define what the individual views as good for himself and bad for himself. Individual values are perspective-dependent. They are tied to the perspective of an individual. Different people make different value judgments. Individual values are often in conflict, because