I also go with my gut, but I've also got a highly developed moral sense I can rely on. That's a key thing. But where did that sense of awe in the face of deep virtue come from?

Unlike most people at most times, for whom a discussion like this is abstract, right now the discussion of moral development is extremely embodied, immediate, and relevant, since I'm raising a son who will have to navigate his own way through the world, and I have a limited amount of time to guide him. Maybe 10 years where he'll listen to me, then another 10 years where he won't be listening to me nearly as much, then he'll be on his own, assuming I'm even still alive by the end of that second 20 years.

If I assume that this little life in front of me will magically become moral because the universe has a clear objective morality that will be obvious, then I'm going to fail because that's untrue, and I'll raise a child who lacks virtue. Many people in my generation are doing just that. Immoral, illiterate kids who go on to fail at life. I could be long dead by the time this little boy reaches 40, he can't live in my basement until he's 40.

So you have to have a mental model for the idea that a new mind will need to build a model of virtue. Part of that is being a role model of virtuous behavior. Part of that is going out into the world and teaching virtue by doing things together and informing him how to behave in real-world circumstances and correcting him when he behaves in a manner that isn't virtuous. And part of that is telling the stories of our civilization which help the mind understand virtue by seeing it in different circumstances.