ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the Global Ethic and then introduces themes in comparative ethics that are inherent to a discussion of this Ethic. It examines the specific concerns about and potential uses of the Global Ethic. There are two main proposals before the international community for instituting a global ethic. The better-known and more important proposal was initially elaborated by theologian Hans Kiing of Tubingen, Germany, and then amended and subsequently issued by the Parliament of the World's Religions. The Global Ethic is intended as a consensus statement of the world's religions of that core area of their various ethical affirmations that they all hold in common. The Ethic limits itself to reporting what amounts to an empirical claim: that persons throughout the world affirm a certain set of moral values. Swidler's Center for Global Ethics has posted on the Internet a call for responses to his proposed Ethic.
