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Full Idea
Those who think ethics is a system of rules can rescue their position by finding more complicated and more specific rules which do not conflict, or by ranking the rules in some hierarchical structure to resolve conflicts.
Gist of Idea
Conflict of rules might be avoided by greater complexity, or by a hierarchy of rules
Source
Peter Singer (Practical Ethics [1979], 01)
Book Ref
Singer,Peter: 'Practical Ethics' [CUP 1989], p.3
A Reaction
The problem is that clear-cut rules seem to produce conflicts. I would have thought that more specific rules would increase that problem. Safety is in generality.