Introduction

Author enquiry in its positive aspect is analytic, its object being to clarify the implications of conceptions which we use when we evaluate aspects of our experience from a distinctive point of view, namely that of morality. Principles may guide our thinking towards a certain direction; they cannot, as moral problems go, absolutely determine the course or the conclusion of process of deliberation. It is this irresolvability that has led some moral philosophers to deny that moral discourse is in any way a matter of rational understanding. Yet such standards may, with respect to different type of issue, not only guide us to certain direction but also thereby lead us to a definite conclusion which is rationally more acceptable than another which we may have to accept if we did not apply these standards. In any case, the belief that one may be right or wrong in moral matters or that morality is in some sense objective is widely prevalent.