ABSTRACT

Students annually torture teachers of ethics and international affairs with a long list of impossible questions. Among the hardest for me to answer has always been whether moral values have any basis other than the con-

ventions of a particular culture or the whims of a single individual. Is morality merely a matter of either private or national taste, on a par with preferring apple pie to baklava? Or do some moral principles have a weight that extends beyond subjectivity?