General Moral Principles
- GMPs are normative claims about what ought to be done, or
should
not be done, etc. [not, e.g., claims about what happens]
- GMPs are moral claims [not, e.g., legal, prudential, or
aesthetic]
- GMPs are general and don't mention specifics
- GMPs can be highly qualified [i.e., have lots of exceptions
(general exceptions) built in]
Examples:
It is wrong to kill innocent persons without their consent.
If one makes a promise, one should keep it.
One should not attempt to get someone to have a false
belief by asserting something that is not true.
Richard Lee,
rlee@uark.edu,
last modified: 18 May 2004