Question I'm pretty good at reading philosophy and making rational arguments. I am very bad at interacting with people, multitasking, remembering to turn off the stove, etc. So I spend most of my time reading about moral and political theory and getting worked up about the injustices I see in the world, but fear what might happen if I lifted a finger to help change the world for the better. I've taken a job helping adults with mental retardation live normal lives. I try to disseminate to my friends important information I read about in the news. I work very hard to be kind and empathetic. Yet I still feel that maybe my capacity for understanding and using reason obliges me to be more involved in political action. Is there a way for clumsy, awkward, introverted college graduates to fulfill their moral obligations without depending on skills they will probably never possess? Am I morally obligated to keep developing these skills, even if they never become strong enough to be useful? Is this moral obligation just a figment of my imagination? Or should I just stop reading Chomsky?

Accepted:

May 13, 2010