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Most parents know that young children are good at making moral judgments, particularly on issues

of fairness.

But how do they acquire this ability?

Is it all a matter of imitation and instruction

picked up in the home and kindergarten?

Or could there be some kind of innate universal grammar,

a human predisposition to structure moral judgments in particular ways.

John Mikhail, Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgetown University,

suspects that when it comes to issues of right and wrong,

children aren't just blank slates.

John Mikhail, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Today we're going to talk about the subject of universal moral grammar.

That sounds a bit of a mouthful.

What is universal moral grammar?

It is a bit of a mouthful. The basic idea is that there might be an innate

basis to our moral judgments. When we try to describe what that innate moral knowledge might be,

we're describing a system of principles or rules that is

perhaps analogous to what linguists who study the innate basis of language call universal

...