Moral Rules

Rules are statements that prescribe or proscribe any of the following: factual claims, inferences, decision procedures, courses of action, or behavior. Rules, thus, either form a normative standard for what we should believe or what we ought to do. There are rules in games, such as the rule governing the movement of the queen in chess; rules in mathematics, such as the process of multiplication; and rules in a host of practical matters, such as law and morality, that prescribe certain actions or responses depending on the particular circumstances that obtain.

Moral rules are rules that are designed to prescribe or proscribe well-defined actions or behavior in order to uphold some moral value. The rule “abide by the terms of a written contract” prescribes certain actions, that is, those demanded by the written terms and conditions of the contract, and implicitly proscribes certain actions, that is, those that are inconsistent with the written terms and conditions of the contract. This rule is a moral rule in virtue of the fact that it is designed to direct action so as to properly respect the moral values of honesty and trustworthiness. There are also examples of moral rules that describe what moral attitude we ought to take toward an individual under certain conditions. For instance, someone might hold that [Page 1438]“she who neglects the terms of her written contract is dishonorable.” As a matter of practice, however, moral rules typically take the form of statements that identify practical guidelines for appropriate and inappropriate conduct rather than guidelines about the moral qualities of someone's character.

One source of ongoing discussion among ethicists concerns the kind of practical direction that moral rules provide. A natural way of thinking about moral rules assumes that they are all-or-nothing in that they rigidly determine what one ought to do in all relevant circumstances. The rule “Abide by the terms of a written contract” compels obedience when certain conditions are met, wherever they obtain. When a contract with specific terms is signed by two parties, the rule would bind each party to act in very specific ways, simply in virtue of the meaning of the rule. There may be exceptions to such moral rules; however, these exceptions can be logically built into the content of the original rule. It may be said that someone ought to abide by the terms of a written contract so long as they have not been voluntarily released from those terms by the other party. This important exception would serve to clarify the rule in question by stipulating the conditions under which someone may permissibly not abide by the terms of a contract that they have signed. On this all-or-nothing conception, moral rules have a practical character similar to the rules of a game. Chess has very specific, context-sensitive rules regarding the movement of pieces based on all the contingencies that could transpire within a particular match. Similarly, an all-or-nothing moral rule stipulates all the relevant exceptions and conditions for its application and, as a matter of logic, will compel certain actions when an entire range of specific conditions are considered.

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