In this article, it is argued that moral reasoning is premised upon more comprehensive worldviews, and it is suggested that moral behaviors in part serve to maintain these worldviews. A worldview is defined as providing an account of what it means to be human, the nature of reality, and the reasons and remedies for human suffering. Interviews with adults whose moral evaluations and reasoning place them on opposite sides of the current American culture war are used to illustrate the argument. It is argued that these adults differ in their moralities because of differences in their worldviews. A discussion is provided of how the present approach to moral psychology compares to the cognitive-structuralist approach, and of research directions suggested by the present approach.
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