"I see your point." _If only you did!_ "You wouldn't kill in defense of Callista Blake?" "Why, I might. If it's a clear case of protecting a friend's life, the law generally calls it justifiable homicide, doesn't it?" "But for you it would have to be a clear case, is that right? I mean, you're referring to something on the level of shooting a burglar to protect the household, something like that?" "I suppose so. I've never encountered any situation like that, so I really can't predict how I'd behave." "Let me make sure I understand your position, Miss Nolan. You do not believe in absolute ethical principles?" "Before I can answer that I must have your personal definition of the word 'absolute'." "You must be familiar with the term, are you not?" "Yes, but there would be at least five or six definitions of it in any unabridged dictionary, and I can't know which one you have in mind unless you tell me." "Well, I had in mind the meaning which I think is generally used in philosophical discussions: self-contained, self-dependent, ultimate, in other words free from the limitations of human error, human perception." "Thank you." _He is a shade tougher than I thought._ "In that case the answer would have to be that ethical principles are human achievements, human ways of thinking and acting, and I don't see how a human activity can ever be free from the limitations of human error and human perception." "Very plausible. I see you've done quite a bit of thinking along these lines. That is what you mean by what you called a--a naturalistic attitude, I think that was your term?" "In part, yes." "Oh, there's more?" "As a well-read man, Mr. Hunter, you must know that the conception of naturalistic ethics is at least as old as Confucius, that libraries have been filled with it, and that we could talk here on the subject until the end of next year with a great deal left unsaid." "Well, I'm afraid there might be a fatigue factor." "There might indeed." _Was I quick enough to steal some of that applause of witless laughter?_ "It would take quite a while just to find a little agreement on definitions and first premises."