This bleeds into a study of morality and ethics when it pertains to concrete acts, but in reality all aspects of our lives bear on these judgments. As McInerny states, "To be good we have to know what that means." The two biggest judgments one will make during life pertain to knowing what is good, what is bad, and the difference between the two. Why is the concept of a virtuous life so foreign to many? We do not know the basics of a moral life. To be moral is to be good, and the goodness of one's acts reflects the fundamentals of thought placed in the service of a pursuit of a virtuous life.
As he asserts, the virtuous life and the moral life are one and the same. "A hallmark of Western culture is a massive moral confusion, rendering the very idea of virtue "exotic and incomprehensible." McInerny here drags the conversation back to the beginning, establishing the terms and the tools of what it means to think and to do what is moral.