Was it the fresh outside air cooling him down, or some moral impulse warning him that he must not do this with a stranger?

There are two moral impulses intertwined here, the ancient prohibition against gluttony and the more modern Puritan objection to indulging pleasure for its own sake.

The idea being seeded and carried in this case is that the world cries wolf, that our moral impulse betrays us and that smart people should keep on walking.

"It's called the "moral impulse'!

The moral impulse on television can be pervasive, but the morality is not necessarily our own.

The resulting feeling is that these people have been pared down, as it were, to their essential moral impulses.

But, above all, the moral and radical impulse which lay behind the Marxist tradition needs to be preserved.

Also, throughout its history, America has found ways to convince itself that it is fusing its deepest moral impulses with its military ones.

The moral impulse that first sent people to the borderlands is certainly not surprising.

The moral impulse of utilitarianism is constant, but our decisions under it are contingent on our knowledge and scientific understanding.