This article is a stock-taking of the debate between morality and aeticity, which over the past decades served as a conceptual framework for moral controversies. It is shown here that, despite different attempts to find a way of reconciling the two paradigms, the debate has not yielded a positive outcome. The reason for this failure lies in the conflict of interpretations of the notion of practical rationality. That view is taken from an inalienable analysis of the actual course of the debate.