Michael Pritchard's study of individual morality is set in the trenches, in the valley of life itself. The moral agent he describes is real, not one of the rarified, rational characters portrayed in most ethics texts. Thus the view of morality Pritchard presents in these eleven essays is pluralistic, complex, and down-to-earth.

Pritchard rejects the premise that moral development begins in self-interest, citing evidence of empathy and moral connectedness in very young children. He provides a deliberate and convincing argument for a new starting point for the discussion of moral...