Introduction

Abstract

Today’s moral buzzwords do not imply close ties between ethics and detachment. On the contrary, they suggest that we have hardened our hearts and need to soften them. Words such as “empathy” and “compassion” indicate both what we lack and how we can improve. One narrative explains this in terms of the hyper-rationality of the Western intellectual tradition. We have learned how to think and reason about moral problems, but not how to care for and love other beings. While such critiques may be valid, they are insufficiently mediated by a fundamental fact: human finitude. Although the claim I am about to make seems counterintuitive, recalling the permanent constraints under which we exist and labor can actually make us better human beings. Recollecting such constraints leads us to pursue imperfect but achievable goods over those that are perfect but unachievable. The seemingly simple act of surrendering the perfect can enable us to avoid much needless pain and suffering. Ironically, although we have at our disposal an array of sophisticated moral theories that seem to promise grand solutions, what we often need most is an ethics based on human limits, an ethics of detachment.