The article contributes to an enlivening of ethical discourse by employing the notion of weak ontology. Weak ontologies insist that fundamental sources of inspiration, or "ontostories," are indispensable to a vital ethics, even as it admits that every onto-story is contestable. The article considers powerful perspectives that militate against implementing weak ontology: liberalism's conception of the neutral framework and Max Weber's characterization of the modern world as disenchanted. The article argues that these two perspectives contribute to a nay-saying ethic and a negative form of governance because the disenchanted world they describe is too hard to love. The article ends with an examination of an ethical perspective that seeks to overturn the disenchantment story by cultivating a nontheistic experience of enchantment.

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This essay seeks to dramatize possibilities for an ethos of refusal in public administration by drawing upon what I will call subaltern ethics. The writers of subaltern ethics considered here include feminist philosopher Judith Butler, narrators of American slavery, and AfricanAmerican "womanist" ethicist, Katie Canon. These writers' ethical projects are contrasted with three others representing Kantian, utilitarian-managerialist, and post-modern perspectives. I find that subaltern ethics moves beyond an ethos of suffering to articulate a feisty positive vision, and thus can be a model of refusal. However, unlike liberal ethical systems, subaltern ethics is informed by overt ontological commitments. The paper ends with some considerations for a possible "weak ontology" of administrative refusal.

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