From this irony, we can turn to ethical frameworks that try to stabilize the circle. Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785) grounds helping in duty: treat persons as ends in themselves, not mere means. Utilitarians like J. S. Mill (1861) answer differently, urging us to maximize wellbeing wherever we can. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Levinas recasts the question by placing the face of the Other at the center of moral responsibility (Totality and Infinity, 1961). In each case, Auden’s jest becomes a doorway: the joke asks who we are to serve, while these theories specify why and how, steering us from clever paradox toward actionable norms. [...]
