Not every moral difference results in a moral conflict. The authors give four features which help to identify moral conflicts. Moral conflicts are intractable and interminable, and are morally and rhetorically attenuated. Pearce and Littlejohn view moral conflicts as a form of communication. Communication is a process of making or doing something, and a process of coordination.
Communication is always contextual.
By drawing on these basic principles of communication, the authors hope to provide ways to transform moral conflicts. Part Two develops new communication patterns which may improve the quality of moral conflict. This is particularly true of public moral discourse. In moral conflicts, not only is there no agreement on an answer to debates, there is not even agreement on what counts as good evidence, or a good argument. Pearce and Littlejohn examine why the quality of discourse is currently so poor, and focus on improving the quality of discourse at the second level.