NDLI: ‘Learning How Not to Be Good’: Machiavelli and the Standard Dirty Hands Thesis

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Tillyris, Demetris
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	‘It is necessary to a Prince to learn how not to be good’. This quotation from Machiavelli’s The Prince has become the mantra of the standard dirty hands (DH) thesis. Despite its infamy, it features proudly in most conventional expositions of the dirty hands (DH) problem, including Michael Walzer’s original analysis. In this paper, I wish to cast a doubt as to whether the standard conception of the problem of DH—the recognition that, in certain inescapable and tragic circumstances an innocent course of action is unfeasible—fully captures Machiavelli’s message and its terrifying implications. In particular, I argue that the standard DH thesis is inadequately ‘static’: it conceives the conflict between ordinary morality and political morality as a stark, momentary and rare paradox of action—an anomaly disrupting the normality of harmony. As such it misconceives both the extent and the nature of the rupture between morality and politics. In this sense, the argument I shall advance does just involve an exercise in the history of political thought. Rather, I want to suggest that, by virtue of its failure to take Machiavelli’s insights seriously, the standard DH thesis fails to live up to its purported capacity to capture the complexity and fragmentation of our moral cosmos and that, consequently, it is nothing more than a thinly veiled version of the idealism and monism it purports to reject.
Starting Page	61
Ending Page	74
Page Count	14
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13862820
Journal	Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
Volume Number	18
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15728447
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2014-03-28
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Machiavelli Dirty hands Moral conflict Political virtue Moral vice Innocence Ethics Political Philosophy Theory of Medicine/Bioethics Philosophy of Medicine Ontology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Social Sciences

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

After the Standard Dirty Hands Thesis: Towards a Dynamic Account of Dirty Hands in Politics

How Bad Can Good People Be?

Judicial Discretion and the Problem of Dirty Hands

Conflictual Moralities, Ethical Torture: Revisiting the Problem of “Dirty Hands”

On Automaticity as a Constituent of Virtue

Tragic-Remorse–The Anguish of Dirty Hands

Situationism and the Neglect of Negative Moral Education

How Aristotelians Can Make Faith a Virtue

Private Solidarity

‘Learning How Not to Be Good’: Machiavelli and the Standard Dirty Hands Thesis

Similar Documents

After the Standard Dirty Hands Thesis: Towards a Dynamic Account of Dirty Hands in Politics

How Bad Can Good People Be?

Judicial Discretion and the Problem of Dirty Hands

Conflictual Moralities, Ethical Torture: Revisiting the Problem of “Dirty Hands”

On Automaticity as a Constituent of Virtue

Tragic-Remorse–The Anguish of Dirty Hands

Situationism and the Neglect of Negative Moral Education

How Aristotelians Can Make Faith a Virtue

Private Solidarity

‘Learning How Not to Be Good’: Machiavelli and the Standard Dirty Hands Thesis