Supposing that the good is prior to the right, wherein does it consist? Is there any single ground-floor value whose promotion underlies and unifies all of our ethical categories? This paper explores the claims of two contenders for this role, namely welfare and perfection. Against the latter it is urged that its promotion often has no evident intrinsic value and that, because perfection is objective, assigning it a higher ethical priority than welfare will compromise individual autonomy. The subjectivity of welfare insulates it against both of these defects, though it may lead to some compensating problems of its own. Pending resolution of these problems, the final verdict is cautiously in favor of welfarism as a foundational theory of value for ethics.
