Moral rules vs moral sense

[The Grand Nudger]

If they were, in fact, guided by "nothing at all", then there wouldn't be any definitive underlying principle to them. Is there?

I'd like to think so, but none that I could identify. It may be that I'm just not presented with much that requires consideration from the angle of morality of late. That's something I hadn't thought of. I dig holes in the ground, I fill them back in again, know what I mean? lol. There are a couple of principles I could confidently say that I hold, but I don't actually find myself with an opportunity to utilize them often. They're all reactions to some pretty extreme situations.

I'm beginning to see that that is more true than you realize. Consider what you just said. That is the definition of intuitive judgment - one made without conscious thought or reasoning.

That would be the case, if I was subconsciously making little moral value judgements, which you're assuming I am, I'm just telling you that I'm not aware of it (and I wouldn't be, obviously), and that there are other possibilities (besides what you assume to be happening). One of them being the handy little bit above, which is starting to seem to me to be the likely culprit in my not being able to identify much in the way of deliberations about morality.

That may be because you may not be fully aware of which principles you have internalized. Do you encounter the same problem when using language as well - often wonder after writing down a sentence whether it is grammatically correct or not and not be able to come up with the answer?

LOL< my mother was an english teacher. I don't wonder so much as I know that I'm often in the wrong, grammatically speaking. Some of it I actually realize and intentionally utilize just because I like the way it sounds, or the looks of it. That being said, my english teacher mother probably wasn't a very good teacher, because she stressed style and effectiveness over grammar and proper use. Here's the thing, I am aware of a great many different ideas of what constitutes morality. I think that probably has more to do with why I can't make the definitive "right or wrong" declaration. I am always forced to conclude "that was right or wrong to them, right or wrong to me, right or wrong for the situation". Like I've already mentioned, this is all after the fact. When I'm actually doing something I get pretty engrossed in the doing of it, not the thinking about it. I try to get that in before I get my hands dirty, because I zone out.