From Aristotle's stories about human virtue, to the Utilitarian's cry for the greatest good for the greatest number, as well as Eastern philosophies' influence that detachment from things is a form of virtue; the history of moral thought is as rich as it is complex. Some thinkers say ethical laws are a useful fiction and others that they can be located in the fabric of the universe. But this story misses something profound about the nature of morality, argues cognitive linguist Ning Yu. Ethics is impossible without metaphor and our theories ought to take this into account.

Morality is central to the human condition. Several millennia ago we discovered that our ability to act against and reflect on our impulses separated us from other animals and provided the space for ethical reasoning to take place. From then on, thinkers from across the ages have attempted to rationalize and explain this integral capacity of ours.