ur definition, must deal with any number of societies or
groups. If there are any absolute laws of ethics, they must be so
inclusive that they can be applied to _any_ society. A law of ethics
must be as universal of application as is the law of gravity."

"I don't follow you...?"

"I didn't think you would when I got to this point. You people who
prattle about your Universal Laws never really consider the exact
meaning of the term. My knowledge of the history of science is very
vague, but I'm willing to bet that the first Law of Gravity ever
dreamed up stated that things fell at such and such a speed, and
accelerated at such and such a rate. That's not a law, but an
observation that isn't even complete until you add 'on this planet.'
On a planet with a different mass there will be a different
observation. The law of gravity is the formula

mM
F = ----
d squared

and this can be used to compute the force of gravity between any two
bodies anywhere. This is a way of expressing fundamental and
unalterable principles that apply in all circumstances. If you are
going to have any real ethical laws they will have to have this same
universality. They will have to work on Cassylia or Pyrrus, or on any
planet or in any society you can find. Which brings us back to you.
What you so grandly call--with capital letters and a flourish of
trumpets--'Laws of Ethics' aren't laws at all, but are simple little
chunks of tribal ethos, aboriginal observations made by a gang of
desert sheepherders to keep order in the house--or tent. These rules
aren't capable of any universal application, even you must see that.
Just think of the different planets that you have been on and the
number of weird and wonderful ways people have of reacting to each
other--then try and visualize ten rules of conduct that would be
applicable in all these societies. An impossible task. Yet I'll bet
that you have ten rules you want me to obey, and if one of them is
wasted on an injunction against saying prayers to carved idols I can
imagine just how universal the other nine are. You aren't being
ethical if you try to apply them wherever you go--you're just finding
a particularly fancy way to commit suicide!"

"You are being insulting!"

"I hope so. If I can't reach you in any other way, perhaps insult will
jar you out of your state of moral smugness. How dare you even
consider having me tried for stealing money from the Cassylia cas