ABSTRACT
It is surprisingly difficult to provide satisfying reasons for some of the most deeply held moral beliefs. Why is it sometimes wrong to kill people? Why it is wrong to eat people but right to eat animals? What makes this particular mentally deficient child so valuable? There is nothing he can do which a normal child cannot do better, and even if his potential is fully realized he will never be able to offer society anything which will compensate for the resources devoted to caring for and teaching him.
