ABSTRACT
We live in a world of unrelenting conflict and face a monumental challenge in producing a legitimate ethics. On the theoretical side of this difficult task, we need to be certain about our moral foundations. Without a defensible conception of the good, our practices are arbitrary. How can we condemn violent practices such as suicide bombings in the name of jihad except through widely accepted principles? We are stunned at the blatant greed and plundering of the earth, but without norms we are only elitists and hot-tempered moralists. Conflicts among people, communities, and nations need principles other than their own for their resolution. A credible ethics, as a minimum, must be fundamentally transnational in character.
