Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 10:37:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Rooney <rooney-AT-tiger.cc.oxy.edu>
Subject: Re:  God help us, back to tropes




On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, TMB wrote:

> > > 
> > > Every action is "ethical". That is what you don't understand.
> > 
> > Actions have ethical significance, I 
> > understand that truism perfectly well.
> > But not every action is ethical -- there
> > are unethical acts (insert "duh" here).
> 
> No, here I have to disagree. I think that *every* action has an ethical
> gravity, no matter how small or how removed from seriousness or the
> precious. Every single and multiple action. 
[...]
> the phrase "an ethical action" strikes me as a little silly 
> and the conflation of some category or other.

This highlights just how far you are from
ordinary usage.  An "ethical act" typically
denotes some act fulfilling a moral rule,
as opposed to an "unethical act" (e.g.,
murder) which does not.  By comparison, your
global use of "the ethical" is a peasoup in
which all acts are spotty.  But then, you
like it that way: it means you never have to
get off your high horse.


Cordially,

M.