Scheidell 1

Stephen Scheidell
Ethical Theory
26 January 2011
Reflection 2
On page 12, Donagan make a tangential point concerning ho! !e come to
learn morality" #e liken the learning of morality to the !ay in !hich !e learn a nati$e
tongue" Specifically, he claim that !e learn a et of more a !e learn grammar%&y
participation in a hared !ay of life" Thi reflection !ill e'pre element of agreement
and diagreement !ith the claim and the role it play in the flo! of the chapter" (lthough
the claim i &roadly accurate, an analyi !ill ho! element of pecific dient"
)irt, Donagan claim that !e learn neither morality nor grammar &y formal
intruction" *hile !e do initially learn &oth participation in life, formal intruction doe
factor into refining that participation" )or !e learn grammar, pelling, ynta', etc" in
grade chool" +n fact, e$en a late a graduate chool, !e are till &eing formally taught
ho! to read and !rite" Similarly, !hen !e a children make mitake or omit a right act,
a parent it u do!n and peak of right and !rong &eha$ior" ,oreo$er, ome !ill
e$en pend time in an eti-uette chool"
On a econd related note, it !ould appear that not only grammar, &ut language
as a whole get paed on in the manner depicted a&o$e" .ut poiti$ely, !e learn
grammatical pattern, pecific !ord meaning, and ynta' in &oth con$eration and
clae" #ere, ignificant -uetion may arie" *here lay the limit to !hat i paed on
$ia linguitic training/ + it merely that content and form, i"e" !ord and grammar, pa
do!n/ + the performance of language, i"e" non$er&al cue, a form of moral dipoition
that the parent tacitly pae on/ 0ould it &e that !e a children pick up thee
non$er&al cue uch a &ody language and tone of $oice/ +f o, then &older -uetion
follo!" (re the parent1 care and patience for the child element that the child notice/
0an the child eparate thee element out a 2econdary1 to !ord and grammar/ Do
thee non$er&al cue carry along any $irtue/
*hile only a tudy of language and moral pychology can an!er thee
-uetion, !e can make peculation" + it mere coincidence that moral training
parallel linguitic training/ 0an !e identify a common morality !ithin the performati$e
Scheidell 2
tructure of language/