Abstract

The Spread is a collection of very short essays first written for his blogs by philosopher Joel Marks. They perform two main functions: to isolate some points made in his earlier writings for special or clarificatory or corrective treatment, and to draw out further implications and applications from two theories he has been promoting: desirism and its even more extreme form, analetheism (or letheism). Both theories are premised on moral nihilism: the denial of objective value. Desirism offers an alternative ethics based on reason. Letheism pertains to the ultimate question(s): What is real? What is true? What is truth? Is truth real? Marks has definite answers to offer, the answers are wholly skeptical and subjective, and yet they are intended to provide concrete guidance for living.