Analysis Of James Q. Wilson's Moral Sense

In his book, the “Moral Sense,” James Q. Wilson defines the Moral Sense as a sense of being connected to others. Wilson explains how people from different cultures and societies all have a similar set of basic principles, which they follow. The author brings up the example of fairness in his 3rd chapter. Within the chapter, Wilson explains how everyone, has their own perception of fairness from a very young age even though we come from different cultures and societies. He justifies his idea by bringing to light the simple, basic, but also very natural statement all children make when they are young “That’s not fair.” This is seen throughout all cultures because everyone has a basic idea of what fairness is within them. To Wilson, we have this sense of fairness because we are all humans who are based on evolution and culture, and as a result we all have these commonalities. However even though everyone has a basic consensus of fairness, there is no single universally accepted definition for

For Machiavelli, virtu describes the characteristic every successful Prince must have in order to rule – success. He wants people to find what they are good and use it to be successful. Machiavelli centers his beliefs on the individual rather than the society – he wants princes to succeed in ruling rather than have a good community for the ruled. Wilson on the other hand takes a different approach. Due to the enlightenment period, and development of rational science, Wilson’s ideas cannot be explained through rational science like Machiavelli’s ideas can. The Enlightenment is not able to come up with our moral senses because our senses differ with every human. The moral senses according to Wilson are different to every person, but have commonalities, which if agreed upon, would allow people to make a moral community where the individual is valued, as a member who is self conscious about his