ABSTRACT
Is skeptical ethics an oxymoron? If skepticism is defined as a principled refusal to pass judgment, then it may be wise to concede its incompatibility with ethics, the study of the grounds for choice. But if skepticism designates a program of inquiry based on a set of rhetorical techniques that will unsettle preconceived notions, then a skeptical ethics is not a contradiction in terms, but a plan for action.1 To understand the skeptical ethics of Ignatius his Conclave, I argue that it both adopts and disowns a skeptical aesthetic – adopting rhetorical forms associated with skepticism while disowning the aestheticizing tendencies of its skeptical characters. In the process, Ignatius asks how a gathering of skeptical personalities goes about decision-making.
