The origin and development of the moral ideas

"The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas" by Edward Westermarck is a nonfiction exploration into what shapes our sense of right and wrong. It shows that morality comes from our feelings and is shaped by both our minds and our culture. Westermarck wrote this book because he wondered where our different ideas about what is good come from, leading him to spend many years studying the topic. The book argues that our moral judgments are really just ways of showing what we like and don't like. He believes that understanding how our emotions play into our moral decisions is key to understanding ethics.