The book falls into three parts, the first of which introduces some back- ground material. Its first chapter is concerned with defining the limits of morality, an issue about which there has been surprising disagreement between academic disciplines. Chapter 2 provides a sketch of the general approach: this involves a brief discussion of what I mean by ‘human nature’ and by the ‘pan-cultural psychological characteristics’ which appear to provide the basis for morality. Neither of these concepts imply the rigidity that is often ascribed to them. The sterility of the nature/nurture dichotomy and the mutual influences between the behaviour of individuals and the socio-cultural structure are emphasized. Chapter 3 raises two questions about the general nature of ‘morality’: is it to be seen as a unitary category?; and do humans just ‘have’ a moral sense, or is it constructed by each indi- vidual in development? Moral codes are often seen as absolute and unchangeable; Chapter 4 questions this, giving examples of change over time and across contexts. Nevertheless we tend to resist the idea that moral codes are labile, in part because we see ourselves through the moral precepts to which we aspire – moral precepts become part of the ‘self-systems’ of individuals. Chapter 5 discusses briefly what is meant by the self-system, and shows that moral codes share some features of resilience with the self- systems into which they are incorporated.
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