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Ethics is a topic that has held little interest for me. Like Nietzsche, I tend to see it as a way of controlling people's minds. Not that it lacks importance, but usually the conversation is captured and directed by those seeking moral safety or conformity. Newspaper columns on
ethical behavior that answer reader's queries about the correct thing to do strike me as little more than Emily Post for the worried and the guilt-ridden.
So it came as a great relief to find that David Levine would agree. This book is not about ethical conduct, doing the right thing, or being good. As the title says, it is about the “capacity” for ethical conduct. What does it take to think in an ethical way, to be capable of ethical behavior? Levine's answer has to do essentially with being authentic, emotionally alive, and reflective. As a result, he does not get bogged down in the age-old conflict between the head and the heart, our impulses and our judgment, or our desires and our duty. He gives us a chance to think about it in a new way.
And new thinking is desperately needed. We may be obsessed with the desire to be “ethical” or correct in our personal conduct, but we live in an ethically challenged age. Almost daily we read about corruption in government, as elected officials are exposed in the act of promoting their personal economic interests or covering up their sordid private lives. The legislative process is driven by influence peddling, while a “revolving door” separates regulators from lobbyists. Super PACs drive our electoral system, giving big donors “access” to politicians. Insider trading is rampant in financial markets, financial ratings firms bid for business from the very clients they rate, and personal information is regularly leaked or sold. We read about how consumer product reliability and quality are routinely compromised by the drive for profit.
Levine does not directly address the rise of money in our society, but it clearly forms the backdrop of his thinking. We a