Ethical Episodes

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

by Joel Marks

I used to be a moral man, but now I am a material man. As my constant readers know, I have recently proved decidedly unconstant, renouncing the very ‘moral’ of these erstwhile ‘moral moments’ to instead sing the praises of amorality as an ethics (a way to live life). It has been a staggering experience to realize how much drops out of one’s picture of the world on this account. At the top of the list would be the notion of ‘should’ – that is, ‘should’ full stop – in other words, what one ought to do ‘in the last analysis’ or ‘all things considered.’

Moralists fondly refer to this feature of morality as ‘the highest telos,’ using a Greek word for a goal or aim.

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