I mean that chairs and apples are less universal than the Universal Law of Gravitation.
In what way?
That the law of gravitation holds is a fact about the universe. That chairs exist is also a fact about the universe.
What does “less universal” mean? Does it mean something like “is applicable or relevant in a smaller volume of the observable universe”? If humanity spreads throughout the cosmos, and if we bring chairs with us everywhere we go, will chairs and gravitation thereby become equally “universal” (or, at least, more equal in “universality” than they are now)?
In any case this comparison is a red herring. The relevant comparison is not “chairs vs. gravity”, it’s “chairs vs. ethics”—or, more to the point, “guns vs. ethics”, “tanks vs. ethics”, “food vs. ethics”, “laws vs. ethics”, “governments vs. ethics”, “money vs. ethics”, “prestige vs. ethics”, etc. No vague allusion to “universality” will help you in any of these cases, since all of the things I’ve just listed are (so far as we know, anyway) approximately equally localized—namely, they are all facts about what exists and happens on the surface of one particular planet.
I mean that chairs and apples are less universal than the Universal Law of Gravitation.
In what way?…What does “less universal” mean? If humanity spreads throughout the cosmos, and if we bring chairs with us everywhere we go, will chairs and gravitation thereby become equally “universal” (or, at least, more equal in “universality” than they are now)?
Gravity is present everywhere in the universe. Apples and chairs are not and will never be present everywhere in the universe.
In what way?
That the law of gravitation holds is a fact about the universe. That chairs exist is also a fact about the universe.
What does “less universal” mean? Does it mean something like “is applicable or relevant in a smaller volume of the observable universe”? If humanity spreads throughout the cosmos, and if we bring chairs with us everywhere we go, will chairs and gravitation thereby become equally “universal” (or, at least, more equal in “universality” than they are now)?
In any case this comparison is a red herring. The relevant comparison is not “chairs vs. gravity”, it’s “chairs vs. ethics”—or, more to the point, “guns vs. ethics”, “tanks vs. ethics”, “food vs. ethics”, “laws vs. ethics”, “governments vs. ethics”, “money vs. ethics”, “prestige vs. ethics”, etc. No vague allusion to “universality” will help you in any of these cases, since all of the things I’ve just listed are (so far as we know, anyway) approximately equally localized—namely, they are all facts about what exists and happens on the surface of one particular planet.
Gravity is present everywhere in the universe. Apples and chairs are not and will never be present everywhere in the universe.