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Culturally Illiterate

 
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I've gotten hooked on reading The Ethicist every week in the NY Times magazine. This week there is a thought that I don't understand.

(That's the great thing about ethics. Even if all meet their obligations, things can turn out miserably. It's so modern, so Samuel Beckett.)


Google says this Beckett fellow is an author. I suppose he explored this idea that being or doing the right thing may turn out miserably. Could someone elaborate a bit and save me from hours of research?
 
High Plains Drifter
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Read Waiting for Godot. It's short and should give you a pretty good idea what manner of Beckett the article refers to.
 
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I wouldn't say Godot is an example of how "Even if all meet their obligations, things can turn out miserably." I'd say it's more of an example of "Habit is the ballast that
chains the dog to his vomit." For an example of people meeting their obligations and still accomplishing nothing, watch The Big Lebowski. It isn't the greatest of movies, but it does a decent job of summerizing the human condition.
 
Michael Ernest
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I think you're taking the quote a tad too literally. The reference as I understand it isn't "See Beckett if you want an example of the conclusion I am drawing here," it's "See Beckett if you want similar ideas of how doing what one thinks one is supposed to do does not mean what is supposed to happen will happen."
The "habit" epigram, which comes from an important essay Beckett wrote on Proust's A le recherche du temps perdu and other writings, seems to me better suited to a discussion on Endgame.
[ January 04, 2004: Message edited by: Michael Ernest ]
 
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That column is a pretty poor source of ethics. Many people refer to his column as "The Marxist." A better source of writing on ethics would be Dennis Prager, who has I think a radio show in California, a newsletter called "Ultimate Issues", and written a few books. See his website.
 
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