The hard questions are: Is there an absolute value? Must we conform? Do we owe what our country asks of us? Is justice necessary? How should we respond to evil? Is it right to forgive wrong actions? Is shame good? Should we be true to who we are? Do good intentions justify bad actions? Should moral evaluations be overriding? These questions are hard because each has several reasonable but conflicting answers. Their conflicts show that we are ambivalent about what answer we should give when we have to make important decisions whose consequences affect us, our relationships, and our attitude to the society we live in. The aim of this book is to show how hard questions can be reasonably answered. Comparisons are central to the approach of this book. Each chapter is concerned with two conflicting answers that have been given to one of the hard questions by those who had to face the question in different anthropological, historical, and literary contexts. These comparisons are central to the evaluations of the answers. They enable us to learn from the successes and failures of others how we can form a deeper understanding of the reasons for and against the answers we might give. The comparisons enlarge how we see the possibilities and limits of life. By learning from others, we can decide more reasonably how we should respond to the hard questions we face.