Repugnance to members of a particular ethnic group, for example, can be successfully transmitted in the humor and gestures of a given family. The social communication of moral principles, however, inasmuch as they are built upon justificatory evidence, are open to the critical scrutiny of the reason which transmits and the reason which receives such information. Theses concerning a certain ethnic group's equality to another can be evaluated upon the basis of the evidence given to support them. Moments of moral maturity can emerge precisely when such evidence contradicts the feelings of the moral agent and prods the agent to choose a certain act because of the weight of relevant reasons. The formation of conscience requires social scrutiny not only to shape the norms and applications of the practical intellect.
Social interaction forms the quality of the conscientious reasoning process.
The question here is neither the content of reason nor even the accuracy of the particular syllogism it operates in the face of a specific moral dilemma. The question is more one of the global sensitivity of the conscience, its very capacity to identify moral problems, to effectively use moral resources in order to deliberate and to provide a plausible solution to an ethical problem. Social interaction, beginning with the elementary dialogue of praise and blame, shapes the quality of conscientious reasoning. Failure in this formation indicates precisely the presence of a practical intellect which cannot properly detect moral objects as they appear in the social landscape. The lax conscience, oblivious to the moral demands of the other, serenely exempts itself from moral choices which involve the least sacrifice.