The research for this work was undertaken during my tenure of a Senior Tutor- ship in the Faculty of Arts and Music at the University of Otago (1983-85). Versions of some of the chapters herein have already been accepted for publication in the form of journal articles in Philosophy, Philosophy East and West, Sophia, and Religious Studies. My thanks to the editors and publishers concerned for permission to reuse this material. A number of people have assisted me in various ways. My greatest debt is to Graham Oddie, who supervised my doctoral research in this area and with whom I have had the benefit of innumerable discussions on these and other philosophical matters. I am very grateful for all I have learned from him. I would also like to thank: Bob Durrant for commenting helpfully on Chapter 2; the late Jim Harvie, both for his valuable suggestions (particularly regarding the material of Chapter 4) and for his encouraging enthusiasm for the whole project; George Hughes for his extensive comments on the whole work; and (for various points of detail) Alan Musgrave, Charles Pigden and Bryan Wilson.
Despite much good advice, however, I have some- times preferred to go my own way, recalling Blake's proverb: "If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise. " With regard to the typing of the manuscript I am indebted to the word-processor wizardry of Jane Tannahill and Christine Colbert.