Troublesome suspicions about the self-sufficiency of the ethical outlook and its basic categories emerge towards the end of the judge’s disquisitions in Either/Or and the Stages alike: in both cases, and particularly in the latter, he acknowledges the extreme difficulties certain ‘exceptional’ individuals may meet when trying to realize the ethical universal in their lives. There, though, the problems raised are only touched upon in a guarded fashion, with careful reservations and with a noticeable reluctance to arrive at a positive resolution.
