The freedom to act and a stern moral obligation to act in certain ways were seen as two sides of the same American coin.

WSJ: Charles Murray: Why Capitalism Has an Image Problem

He said: "We have a moral obligation to act on climate change and influence others worldwide to do the same".

BBC: 'UN Climate Summit' debate 2

"The U.S. has a moral duty to act ... we are waiting for the next steps, " he told The Associated Press by phone from Istanbul.

NPR: Syrian Troops Capture Key Town Near Damascus

In a democratic society, this frees us to push our lawmakers to act in a moral fashion, without having to worry that the reforms we are pushing for will harm our financial interests.

FORBES: Investing in the Unspeakable

Social processes act like a moral fog that envelops all the characters and lets them choose what to do in certain situations.

BBC: Computer games start thinking

The second failure in insurance markets is moral hazard: a person who is insured has less incentive to act carefully than an uninsured person.

ECONOMIST: America goes bust

Lucky for us, American visual artists have a law, the Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA), which grants moral rights to visual artists.

FORBES: Banksy Mural Chiseled Off Building, About To Be Sold At Auction For $700,000

No one can know for certain if this senseless act could have been prevented, but we all know we have a moral obligation -- a moral obligation -- to do everything in our power to diminish the prospect that something like this could happen again.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Introduces a Plan to Reduce Gun Violence

At root, it is the modern belief that the essence of moral action is neither expecting nor receiving any personal benefit (or, even better, suffering a loss from that act) that underlies the condemnation of profit-seeking.

FORBES: Why Are Profits In the Healthcare Sector So Demonized?