A philosophy of modified Kantianism, originated by R. M. Hare, who believes that our moral judgments should be of the form "I ought to do X in Y situation," whenever all of the relevant, universal properties of the facts that obtain in any similar situation are the same. This also requires that we take into account the universal properties of the psychological perspectives of the participants, including the "victims" of the action.
Hare would allow utilitarian considerations to enter into such a formulation, but he would not base the formula or his ethical theory solely on a principle of utility.
Hare believes that all of our ethical propositions ought to conform with logic.
This method has also been adopted by Michael E. Berumen as a means of making exceptions to general moral rules such as Do Not Kill, Do Not Cause Pain, Do Not Disable, etc. Peter Singer has also expressed sympathy with Hare's position, though he is more strictly representative of the utilitarian school.
Universalprescriptivism, as Hare presents it, is an attractive alternative within contemporary ethical theory.
Universalprescriptivism, further, goes a long way toward reconciling Kant and Mill by accepting the formal requirements of the one together with the humanitarian content of the other.
And, most striking in an age of stale cynicism and moral deadlock, universalprescriptivism stirs a fresh breeze of hope for the day when even the most intractable moral conflicts among men may be harmlessly isolated, at least, and remaining discord may be worked out by normally reasonable men of average good will.
UniversalPrescriptivism is best seen as an attempt to locate both the faults and the true insights in other current ethical theories, to remedy the faults while preserving the insights, and so to provide a synthesis between them.
The statement that everyone ought to look after his (or her) mother in her old age is therefore a universal statement, and the statement that a ought to look after his mother (but has no such duty to look after other people's mothers), is universalizable.
Prescriptivism thus falls within the class of ethical theories known as 'internalist': those which hold that to accept some moral judgement is eo ipso to be motivated in a certain way.
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