The origin and development of the moral ideas

by Edward Westermarck

A sweeping study of where our sense of right and wrong comes from, drawing on custom, law, and belief across many peoples. A serious work of moral inquiry for the patient reader.

At a glance This is an ambitious attempt to trace the roots of morality not to abstract philosophy… What it's about The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas examines how ideas of… It gathers a vast range of evidence about approval and disapproval, praise and blame… From these it builds an argument that moral ideas grow out of the reactions of…

The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas examines how ideas of right and wrong actually arise and change among peoples, rather than how thinkers say they ought to.