Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/144

 CHAPTER IX.

THE STANDARD OF MORAL JUDGMENT.

§ 1. The Development of Moral Judgment. Moral judgments are passed by the self, acting as conscience, on conduct and character. The object that is judged is always a human action or a system of human actions. We have now to ask, What standard do we use when we make moral judgments on conduct?

Some standard is involved in every kind of judgment. The legal judgment pronounced by the judge is based on the enacted law of his country. When, in common life, we judge that a certain man is tall, we make our judgment with reference to some average height which we take to be the normal or standard height for a man. When we judge that a certain play is clever, we have in mind some standard of cleverness in relation to which we make our judgment. But, though we all constantly make such judgments, we should find it very difficult to define exactly what our standard is. How many people could state the average height of an Englishman, or define the standard of dramatic cleverness? We regularly use standards which we have never attempted to formulate.