ABSTRACT
Moral theory is embedded in a conception of the moral point of view, and suffused with ideas about what counts as a moral judgment, a moral reason, a moral justification. The rule of transformation, then, under the general conception of morality, is this, the rules are changed by reasoned argument, in accord with some rules, about which there is an existing rational consensus. Teleological rules define the aims of the activity and any priority ordering or means-end relations among them. In medicine, again, it is crucial to know whether the primary aims are public health goals, with the treatment of diseased individuals being a means to reaching those goals, or whether those aims are reversed. The range of sound practical reasoning therefore shrinks significantly, and the precision of conclusions diminishes also. Aristotle's observation is sound, moral argument will not achieve the degree of precision appropriate to mathematics.
