The central issue is that of identifying and understanding the fundamental principles of morality but the book also discusses the place of rules in moral thought, the nature of obligation, the relation between morality and religion and that of being moral and rational.

G. J. Warnock was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

1. Some Options in Ethics 2. The Human Predicament 3. Utility 4. Rules 5. Moral Rules 6. Moral Virtues 7. Obligations 8. Marginal Comments 9. Morals and Rationality