About this quote

Moral principles can be proposed, examined against experience, and revised when their consequences fail human needs. The analogy does not reduce ethics to physics; it emphasizes disciplined public reasoning in both fields.

When to use it

• A hospital ethics board reviews whether a consent rule actually protects vulnerable patients.
• A city tests a fairness policy against measured outcomes and revises it when harms persist.
• A classroom compares moral principles through cases instead of treating every inherited rule as untouchable.