The goal of this dissertation project is to develop an account of moral understanding which can be illuminating for moral agency, moral development and moral experience. I think the crux of the debate on the nature of moral understanding has to do with the idea of appreciating moral reasons.  I want to offer a comprehensive account of what it means for a person to appreciate moral reasons. In a nutshell, I argue that the one who can appreciate moral reasons proves to have a complex competency in the light of which she lives well. While a virtuous person is a paradigmatic example of one who has this competency, I insist on the idea that our appreciation of moral reasons is to be developed and cultivated. I suggest two ways in which this can be done: through emotional experience and with a form of attention which structures our moral experience.