The problem of libidinal economy can be summarised in two axioms:
1. Every economy is libidinal
2. Every libido is economic
If both these axioms are accepted then we accept libidinal economy. In fact, as this essay traces, the tendency is to choose or modify one or other axiom to produce a less scandalous form of libidinal economy. In this case, we witness a moralism of libidinal economy, either for or against, rather than a thinking of libidinal economy. This is ironic as the thinking of libidinal economy often claims to be beyond moralism, beyond good and evil. By tracing the permutations of acceptance and rejection of either or both of these axioms we can reconstruct the history of libidinal economy as a mode of thought. This history is a history of resistance to the acceptance of both axioms, which gives us libidinal economy but also seems to collapse any critical distance as our libido is identified with the economy. Therefore, the axioms of libidinal economy allow us to grasp both the persistence of morality within this thinking and the difficulty of maintaining a position of critique in the wake of libidinal economy. This working through is aimed at reconstructing the possibility of an ethical culture of libidinal economy, which would engage with morality while not unconsciously reproducing a moralism.