Perhaps, I m intentionally overstating the similarity between my ethics and what I take to be the original Greek conception of ethics as the philosophy of human action. These boys meant business. Monsters swap ideas with other monsters. Grandmothers swap fudge recipes. I swap grooming tips with the homeless.
Man is a social animal, whose very Being depends on others.
This much is obvious. But, the distinction is still useful to highlight the popular and professional conception of ethics as the slippery science of global elbow room, blending at the edges into the spheres of politics, law, and table etiquette. The ethics of co-existence is necessary, especially in the alleviation of cruelty and suffering, but an ethics, in my opinion, also needs to tend to the alleviation of Boredom and the generation of daily meaning. Then when you mention the details of your morning, about how how you mixed Hegel with breakfast cereal, he glazes over. He doesn t want to compare notes because this will never be the subject of a PhD dissertation, or the firehot-topic in insular academic journals.