Cruelty and Deception

The essays in this book deal with the appropriateness of "dirty hands" in politics, the widely held view that politics is a dirty business and those who engage in it can't help but get their hands dirty--Oliver North's self-defense in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra affair is a good example. The book explores the meaning of the term and its implications; whether dirty hands is useful as a description of the way public figures actually behave in crisis and whether it is acceptable as a model for guiding ethical and efficacious conduct. Contributing authors present differing appreciations both of the extent to which there are dirty hands in political decision-making and actions, and of the justifiability of such conduct if and when it presents itself. Defenders of dirty hands make the argument (in various ways) that sometimes cruelty and/or deception are necessary means to achieve a desirable end. The desirable goal may be advancing the greater good or it may mean preventing a considerable evil. On the other hand, there are a variety of strong arguments for rejecting the practice as well as the theoretical justifications of dirty-handed activity. The book presents arguments and analyses pro and con for using normally repugnant methods to advance worthy ends. The dirty hands problem sets ethicists, political theorists, and social philosophers against one another on empirical, logical, and normative grounds, leaving it to readers to form their own views. However, the debate about dirty hands is also directly relevant to the consideration of ethical problems in a more general sense because its ultimate concern--how to act rightly when moral rules point in contradictory directions--can come to the fore in many circumstances in social life. Accordingly, several of the essays address broad moral questions beyond the dilemmas faced by political leaders.

ISBN 1551111969   DEWEY edition DC21 ISBN13 9781551111964 (What's this?)   Pages 280 Publisher Broadview Press Ltd   Weight (grammes) 450 Imprint Broadview Press Ltd   Published in Peterborough Format Paperback   Height (mm) 229 Publication date 10 Jan 1999   Width (mm) 152 Non-book description 280 p. ;   Spine width (mm) 25 Library of Congress JA79.C78 2   Academic level Undergraduate DEWEY 172

		Preface and Acknowledgments		7
		Introduction: The Controversy Over Dirty Hands by David P. Shugarman		11
Pt. 1		Defending Dirty Hands
1		Dirty Hands and Ordinary Life by Michael Stocker		27
2		Missionaries and Mercenaries by Ronald Beiner		43
3		Bernard Shaw and Dirty-Hands Politics: A Comparison of Mrs. Warren's Profession and Major Barbara by John Allett		51
4		Politics, Power, and Partisanship by Tom Sorell		67
5		Principles and Politics by Leah Bradshaw		87
6		Justice, Expediency, and Practices of Thinking by Evan Simpson		101
7		Democratic Legitimacy and Official Discretion by Arthur Applbaum		111
Pt. 2		Rejecting Dirty Hands
8		There is No Dilemma of Dirty Hands by Kai Nielsen		139
9		On the One Hand and On the Other by Michael Yeo		157
10		Bribery, Business, and The Problem of Dirty Hands by A. W. Cragg		175
11		Hands: Clean and Tied or Dirty and Bloody by Michael McDonald		187
12		Ethical Politics and the Clinton Affair by Ian Greene and David P. Shugarman		199
13		Retrospection and Democracy: Bringing Political Conduct under the Constitution by S. L. Sutherland		207
14		Democratic Dirty Hands? by David P. Shugarman		229
App		Selected Classic Statements on Dirty Hands: Excerpts from Machiavelli, Weber, Trotsky, Sartre, and Walzer		251
		Selective Bibliography		263
		Contributors		271
		Sources		275
		Index		277

The essays in this book deal with the appropriateness of "dirty hands" in politics, the widely held view that politics is a dirty business and those who engage in it can't help but get their hands dirty.

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