Full Idea
If morality is based on wrong (meaning 'forbidden'), right ('permitted'), and obligatory ('required'), we are led to ask 'Who is it that thus permits, forbids or requires that certain things be done or not done?'
Gist of Idea
Morality based on 'forbid', 'permit' and 'require' implies someone who does these things
Source
Richard Taylor (Virtue Ethics: an Introduction [2002], Ch.2)
Book Reference
Taylor,Richard: 'Virtue Ethics: an Introduction' [Prometheus 2002], p.8
A Reaction
Clear reinforcement for Nietzsche's attack on conventional morals, which Taylor sees as a relic of medieval religious attitudes. Taylor says Kant offered a non-religious version of the same authority. I agree. Back to the Greek pursuit of excellence!