Sound moral development is characterised by an ever increasing degree of autonomy in place of the heteronomy which distinguishes the immature, and to some extent, the primitive mind generally. At first the child learns to act in accordance with the desires of its parents, as expressed in threats, punishments or rewards. Thereafter, the idea of "good," as signifying conduct in accordance with these desires, becomes operative as an inner motive force in the mind of the child, independently of the occurrence of the rewards or other incentives. This is the first stage of autonomy. As development proceeds, the ideas concerning right conduct (continually enlarged by the experience of new persons and new situations) become more and more dissociated from their original authoritative sanctions, new "inner" sanctions being substituted for the old "external" ones which are abandoned. These inner sanctions are themselves capable of many different levels of development, ranging from the simple idea of the individual's own benefit in the immediate future, to the desire for the ultimate benefit of humanity as a whole or the concept of action in conformity with the general principles of the Universe. If the individual is to progress satisfactorily from the stage of outer sanctions to that of inner sanctions and to attain in due course to the higher levels of these inner sanctions, he must have opportunities for the gradual development of his own powers of initiation, deliberation and self-control; this implying a corresponding gradual emancipation from the jurisdiction of the parents and their substitutes in later life (teachers, advisers, superiors, _etc._), until there is obtained at full growth the completest possible autonomy of thought and action that is compatible with the individual's position in the society to which he belongs. [Sidenote: Autonomy should come about gradually] [Sidenote: and not suddenly as the consequence of a revolt against parental authority]