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- Title
Machiavellian Variations, or When Moral Convictions and Political Duties Collide.
- Authors
Giorgini, Giovanni
- Abstract
Commenting on Michael Walzer's essay, the author adopts a perspective that traces back to Machiavelli. In this view, 'dirty hands' is a true problem faced by politicians, not a philosophical fiction or a moral quandary resulting from wrong reasoning. 'Dirty hands' results from the collision of two spheres of human action -morality and politics- which entail different duties; it concerns actions which have extremely serious public consequences and therefore applies eminently to politicians and the public sphere. The author examines different scenarios to elicit a clear view of the specificity of this problem, which is not analogous to the conventional issue of immorality in politics. 'Dirty hands' is a problem that cannot be avoided by politicians, because they have responsibility over the ultimate decisions; it follows that people who wish not to dirty their hands should thus refrain from entering the political realm.
- Subjects
MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo, 1469-1527; DUTY; HUMAN behavior; ETHICS; PUBLIC sphere; MORAL reasoning; IMMORALITY; SPHERES
- Publication
Journal of Ethics, 2023, Vol 27, Issue 4, p461
- ISSN
1382-4554
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10892-023-09457-2