Abstract

In the first part of this article it is defended that ethical reflexion supposes, if not an expressible norm, yet a direction towards universality. This is against the tendency in prevailing literature of emphasising the radical interwovenness of ethics with tradition and culture. In that position it is to be feared that all absoluteness may disappear from ethical reflexion. This universality also requires a certain absoluteness on the ontological level, which however can not be directly identified with the traditional idea of God. This is the content of the second part. Part three focuses more specifically on the issue of ecology. It is characteristic of the discourse that it opposes the use of the notion right, when animals are concerned. Hereby the view that man has obligations towards animals is by no means disputed, on the contrary. The concern of ecological movement is fully justified, but it need not to be defended with confusion of ideas