Virtually any theory of right is based on some standard for comparing the consequences for different people of various actions or policies. Such standards are called subjective if based solely on the preferences of the affected individuals and objective otherwise. Subjective standards yield assessments of the moral urgency of various claims that are strongly counter to our intuitions. We appear to employ objective rather than subjective criteria, but the reasons why we should do this seem inconclusive and possibly circular. Some problems involved in constructing an objective standard and accounting for its moral significance are considered.
