ABSTRACT
Contemporary ethical theory has become even more critical of the deductive model. The conflict of legalism and anti-legalism stands out sharply in western religious-ethical outlooks, both Judaic and Christian. The legalist stresses the touchstone of obedience to the letter of God's law as man's highest duty and his highest good. The demands of a war-time morality are different from those of a peace-time morality, home-morality is different from business ethics. In ethics, the structure of the situation as viewed may considerably limit the kinds of rules which are applicable. More specific and formalized touchstones may also be used, as highly general and all embracing as the Golden Rule in the thinking of some moralists in our culture. For other cultures, too, many different kinds and levels of generalization, and many different forms of moral utterance, occur. There may be some stylistic specialization: one culture may prefer pithy allegorical summations, other long proverbs with or without a stated moral.
