The Debate About Particularism in Ethics

If something is universally true, it's true in each instance. If something is true in a series of instances, then we can make a generalization about it. In the ancient greek world, but also throughout other wisdom traditions, there's a tinction between coming to understanding through reason and bringing about a change of heart. So those who are particularists, who say there's no way that we can actually come up with the generalization, just need to look at the particular cases,. Those who say any particular instance will in some sense distort what the universal claim was.