"I continue to believe," states Brian Barry (Justice as Impar- tiality, 1995, p. 3), "in the possibility of putting forward a universally valid case in favor of liberal egalitarian princi- ples." Barry's belief is not idiosyncratic but widely shared by Western intellectuals. In fact, a traditional trademark of Western philosophy has been to insist on the universal validity of its teachings, while relegating other cultures and ideas to a merely contingent or particularistic status. The belief tends to be shared by much of Western social science.