We can be certain that, if there are conflicting views in different cultures, some of these views must be false. This may help us to transcend our own narrow cultural horizon.

What we need is legislation, not negotiation, for the entire globe.

I believe that one basic question, what we ought to do, period (the moral question), is a genuine one. There exists a true answer to it, which is independent of our thought and conceptualisation.

According to deontology it is wrong to kill an innocent human being, period.

I have been brought up in a culture where capital punishment is indeed anathema. I have always thought of myself as a principled opponent to capital punishment. However, when thinking about how the topic is handled in other cultures, in particular the American, Russian and Chinese ones, I have realised that my own tack on the issue was utterly superficial.

I do believe that what I have called populist democracy is to be preferred to what I have called elitist democracy.

I am indeed a hedonistic utilitarian. I have defended hedonistic utilitarianism for quite a while.