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A builder should never use a drill while a philosophy Bites interview is in progress.

That sounds like a moral principle.

More typical examples and moral principles are,

do not murder, always keep promises.

But Jonathan Dancy doesn't believe in moral principles.

He's well known for advocating what's called moral particularism.

When we have to decide how to act in a particular situation,

there are no moral rules.

Instead, we should be alive to the situation's relevant moral features.

Jonathan Dancy, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

It's nice to be here, I hope.

The topic we're going to talk about is moral particularism.

I expect quite a few people listening to this will never have heard that term

could you just give us a clue what that is? Well most people think about right and

wrong in a certain sort of way which involves the idea at the bottom of it all

are moral principles principles of the right and principles of the wrong.

And we are familiar with principles of these sorts, it's wrong to kill, it's wrong to steal, it's right to help others, and so on.

And they think that if there were no principles of this sort,

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