In moral upbringing what one learns is not to behave on conformity with rules of conduct, but to see situations in a special light, as constituting reasons for acting; this perceptual capacity, once acquired, can be exercised in complex novel circumstances, not necessarily capable of being foreseen and legislated for by a codifier of the conduct required by virtue, however wise and thoughtful he might be.
(John McDowell, "Are Moral Requirements Hypothetical Imperatives?" The Aristotelian Society, supplementary volume 52 [1978]: 13-29, at 21)
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 