Reacting to Wrongdoers

In order to understand what counts as a moral transgression, one must understand what content

delineates immoral acts from acts that are merely bad or undesirable (Machery 2008). How can we tell

what counts as a violation of a moral norm as opposed to a violation of etiquette or of a prudential norm?

Implicitly it is easy, as even by 3 or 4 years of age, young children acquire this capacity and can actively

differentiate between conventional and moral transgressions (Nucci and Turiel 1978; Nucci 2001; Tisak

and Turiel 1984; Turiel 1977; Turiel 1983; Smetana 2006). However, researchers have struggled to make

such delineations systematically. Early research in moral development understood the moral domain

around a singular concept of justice (Kohlberg 1973; Haidt 2001; Kohlberg 1971; Kohlberg and Hersh

1977). However, this proved to be insufficient on its own, both because it was vaguely defined and also

because it le���� out other important aspects like care in interpersonal relationships (Gilligan 1994) and the

cultural and religious norms that surround moral judgement but which are not easily understood in terms

of justice (Damon 1999; Graham et al. 2018; Graham et al. 2011; Haidt and Joseph 2008).