Moral motivation and society

Augusto Blasi

pp. 313-329

in: Günter Dux, Frank Welz (eds), Moral und Recht im Diskurs der Moderne, Wiesbaden, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2001

Abstract

In this paper I focus on the motivational aspects of moralization. It is widely acknowledged that mature morality includes several characteristics: there must be appropriation of moral beliefs and personal investment in moral values; the capacity to control one's impulses and to subordinate one's egocentric desires to one's moral values; the ability to feel personally responsible for complying with one's moral evaluations and individually accountable for not doing so; the tendency to experience negative emotions, from regret to shame and guilt, whenever one's actions depart from one's moral beliefs; the capacity to pursue one's moral values throughout one's life. These are some of the features of moral motivation.