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  3. Paradoxes of Political Ethics
  • Cited by 28
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      22 September 2009
      22 November 2007
      ISBN:
      9780511487439
      9780521873550
      9780521122924
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511487439
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.614kg, 296 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.44kg, 296 Pages
      • Subjects:
      History, Philosophy, History of Ideas and Intellectual History, Political Philosophy
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    Subjects:
    History, Philosophy, History of Ideas and Intellectual History, Political Philosophy
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    Book description

    How do the hard facts of political responsibility shape and constrain the demands of ethical life? That question lies at the heart of the problem of 'dirty hands' in public life. Those who exercise political power often feel they must act in ways that would otherwise be considered immoral: indeed, paradoxically, they sometimes feel that it would be immoral of them not to perform or condone such acts as killing or lying. John Parrish offers a wide-ranging account of how this important philosophical problem emerged and developed, tracing it - and its proposed solutions - from ancient Greece through the Enlightenment. His central argument is that many of our most familiar concepts and institutions - from Augustine's interiorised ethics, to Hobbes's sovereign state, to Adam Smith's 'invisible hand', understanding of the modern commercial economy - were designed partly as responses to the ethical problem of dirty hands in public life.

    Reviews

    Review of the hardback:'Good books on the history of political thought achieve two things. They enhance our understanding of how certain political concepts developed through a historical period and they uncover lessons in the histories of the concepts they study for how we understand politics today. Professor John M. Parrish's book, while devoting most of its attention to the former task, also offers a good deal of the latter.'

    Source: Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

    'An unusual and highly erudite book about the history of getting one's hands dirty in public life.… The author urges us to call into question the variety of more excuses offered for public conduct and to compel our representatives to answer themselves - a bold and surely justified demand.'

    Source: Network Review

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