Are there absolutely binding moral norms?

Abstract

Today teachers of moral theology pay much attention to the problem, how the validity of moral norms can be proved. The question does not only mean how generally acknowledged norms can be made understandable, but also whether or not and how far a pretended norm can claim to be binding at all. Therefore the problem is not only to make it understandable, why the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' is valid, but also whether or not it is valid in fact, or at least, whether it is valid to that extent, as it has been supposed hitherto.