Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The problem of this dissertation is two-fold: (1) A study of the ethical theories of Jacques Maritain, Walter Terence Stace, and Paul Ramsey, and (2) an attempt to classify moral theories in the light of three basic types of relation between man, moral standards, and reality. The analysis, comparison, and critical study of the three representative moral theorists are correlated with a view to illustrating the kinds of issues involved in the reduction of the moral standards to three foci, as a novel and useful classification. Hence, the field of moral theory has been divided into three foci designated as Imposed Ethics, represented by Maritain, Immanent Ethics, represented by Stace, and Imparted Ethics, represented by Ramsey. It is believed that when properly defined most, if not all, ethical ideals will fall within one of these three classifications or a combination of them. [TRUNCATED]