Moral conclusions are connected to the principles of the common morality, which serves as the foundationalist aspect of the account

Importantly, this common morality is historicist, in that its authority is established historically, through the success of its related norms in advancing human flourishing across time and place. However, unlike many historicist accounts, the common morality is not relativist, as its norms are to be applied universally. Beauchamp and Childress accord the common morality a special place within their approach, a place shielded from the jostling involved in the quest for coherence through wide refl