of duty and obligation to a purely moral ideal rather
than based on the needs of the situation, since the
universal principles are seen to apply to everyone, everywhere,
all the time.
Th e problem with this approach is the reverse of
the weakness in ethics for the greater good. If all
you focus on is abiding by a universal principle, no
one is accountable for the consequences of the actions
taken to abide by those principles. Consider,
for example, the current debate over the use of stem
cells in researching a cure for Parkinson’s disease.
If you recognize the value of human life above all
else as a universal ethical principle, how do you justify
the use of a human embryo in the harvesting of
stem cells? Does the potential for curing many major
illnesses—Parkinson’s, cancer, heart disease, and
kidney disease—make stem cell research ethically