Full Idea
A distinguishng feature of ethics is that ethical judgements are universalisable. Ethics requires us to go beyond our own personal point of view to a standpoint like that of the impartial spectator who takes a universal point of view.
Gist of Idea
Ethics is universalisable - it must involve an impartial and universal view of things
Source
Peter Singer (Practical Ethics [1979], 10)
Book Reference
Singer,Peter: 'Practical Ethics' [CUP 1989], p.204
A Reaction
I'm thinking that ethical agents are more 'situated' than that. Suppose a finance minister stole billions in tax and gave it to a poor country. Good from the universal angle, perhaps, but a shocking betrayal of his own community.