Page "Ethics" Paragraph 44

In present day terms the powerless may include the unborn, the terminally sick, the aged, the insane, and non-human animals.

It is in these areas that ethical action in Hoy's sense will apply.

Until legislation or the state apparatus enforces a moral order that addresses the causes of resistance these issues will remain in the ethical realm.

For example, should animal experimentation become illegal in a society, it will no longer be an ethical issue on Hoy's definition.

Likewise one hundred and fifty years ago, not having a black slave in America would have been an ethical choice.

This later issue has been absorbed into the fabric of an enforceable social order and is therefore no longer an ethical issue in Hoy's sense.