The importance of 'should'

The culture is suffused with bad ideas. Here's an indication. In the kitchen at work today I overheard the end of a conversation between a colleague and our HR director. My colleague was expressing exasperation about some topic unbeknownst to me, and concluded by saying that someone 'should' have behaved differently. And then our cheerful HR director quipped, "There is no 'should'. There is only 'is'."

I was stunned speechless. I have never witnessed a more literal demonstration of the is-ought gap. Our HR director may not have realized it but she succinctly expressed the dominant view of ethics amongst intellectuals: namely that no rational ethics is possible. The philosophical mainstream maintains that it is impossible to move from a statement of fact to a statement of value - that is, to move from an is to an ought. This is the explanation for the moral relativism of the elites.

To understand how to bridge the is-ought gap, you should read a book called Loving Life by Craig Biddle. Or read the original source of the solution: Ayn Rand.

The incident was a powerful demonstration of how bad ideas trickle down into the culture.