morality

In ethics, a morality can be defined as having three essential components: (1) a community of responsible agents, for morality concerns our behaviour towards others and their behaviour towards us; (2) a shared set of nonmaterial values, such as fairness, truth, and compassion, the pursuit of which constitutes one aim of community life (this distinguishes a morality from an economic system); (3) a way of life involving a code of behaviour (this distinguishes a morality from, say, a set of aesthetic values).

Although he accepted that morality requires a community of responsible agents, Immanuel Kant argued that the distinguishing feature of morality is that it involves judgements that conform to a law of reason (the categorical imperative).