The Moral/Conventional Distinction

Mind-making practices: the social infrastructure of self-knowing agency and responsibility

“…This may partly explain why we sometimes have trouble categorizing what counts as a moral infraction -an infraction of a moral norm -as against an infraction of some putatively nonmoral (sometimes called merely "conventional") norm -for example, dressing in a "modest" or "respectful" way in various settings, or on various occasions. For further discussion of the moral/conventional distinction and its possible cultural variability, see Turiel (1983), Turiel, Killen, and Helwig (1987), Nucci (1986), Shweder et al (1997), Nucci and Turiel (2000), Sripada and Stich (2006), Southwood (2011), Kelly and Stich (2012), and Fraser (2012). 25.…”

Moral externalization and normativity: The errors of our ways

“…A stronger version presents moral demands as independent of the desires and preferences of any other agent, such as an authority or members of a social group. Sometimes this idea is discussed under the label of the conditionality or categoricity of moral principles (Southwood 2011); it is also related to the idea of response-independence (Nichols & Folds-Bennett 2003). A second phenomenon is the tendency to generalizeto believe that any moral demand that applies to oneself also would apply to any other sufficiently similar agent in similar circumstances.…”

Norms and conventions

“…There is some kind of crucial conceptual link between the notion of a social norm and what is customary or habitual (Southwood 2010b;forthcoming). In particular, it seems that the generally held normative attitudes that are constitutive of social norms must somehow make reference to the way that people generally behave.…”