Ethos and Ethical Laws

I came across this very nice dialogue between two enemies in a sci-fi novel, called Deathworld, by Harry Harrison. Thought I'd post it here...

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Jason : "...It is impossible to talk to you, much less enjoy any comprehensible exchange of ideas. We aren't even speaking the same language. Forgetting for the moment who is right and who is wrong,, we should go back to basics and at least agree on the meaning of the terms that we are using. To begin with - can you define the define the difference between ethics and ethos?"

Mikah: " Of course, Ethics is the discipline dealing with what is good or bad, or wight or wrong - or with moral duty or obligation. Ethos means the guiding beliefs, standards, or ideals, that characterize a group or community."

Jason: "Very good...Ethos is inextricably linked with a single society and cannot be separated from it, or it loses all meaning. Do you agree?"

Mikah: "Well..."

Jason: " Oh come on - you have to agree on the terms of your own definition. The ethos of a group is just a catch-all term for the ways in which the members of a group interact with each other. Right?"

Mikah: " yes..."

Jason: "Now that we agree about that, we can push on one step further. Ethics, again by your own deginition 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."

Mikah: " I don't follow you..."

Jason: " I didn't think you would when I got to this point. You people who prattle about your Universal Laws of Truth never really consider the meaning of the term. My knowledge of the history of science is a little vague, but I'm willing to bet that the first Law of Gravity that was ever dreamed up stated that things fell at such and such 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.... If you are going to have any real ethical laws they have to have the unversality of

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They will have to work on Cassylia or Pyrrus, or on any other 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 simply 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 you have been on, and the number of weird and wonderful ways people have of reacting to each other - then try and visualise ten rules of conduct that would be applicable in all these societies. An impossible task. Yet I'll bet you have ten rules you want me to obey, and if one of them is wasted on an injunction against praying 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...!"


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What do you think? Thought-provoking huh?