By Susan Mendus
ISBN-10: 0745629679
ISBN-13: 9780745629674
Public disenchantment with politics has develop into a key characteristic of the realm during which we are living. during this ebook, Susan Mendus asks if politicians could be morally sturdy or even if politics is destined to contain soiled palms or the lack of integrity, as many smooth philosophers declare.
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Sample text
This is clear in the example given, which stresses the fact that, once in power, the politician will find that he can no longer sustain his commitment to the absolute wrongness of torture. He believes torture to be absolutely wrong, he has given public assurances that he will have no truck with it, and he has come to power in part because he has given those assurances to the electorate. Once elected, however, he must at least consider authorizing torture in order to secure the political outcomes he has promised and on the basis of which he has been elected.
However, even here it must be stressed that the 24 Integrity connection between integrity and moral goodness is not straightforward: on this account, we can see quite clearly why Himmler might feel that he would have sacrificed his integrity had he abandoned the project of exterminating the Jews. He would, by his own lights, have associated with evil. Indeed, his own language makes this clear. He says: I also want to talk to you quite frankly on a very grave matter. . I mean . . the extermination of the Jewish race.
Nonetheless, the examples serve to highlight the differences between political lying and common-or-garden crookedness. The politician may indeed do what is morally wrong, but, unlike the crook, he may do that for us. So the conclusion that politicians are morally worse than the rest of us needs to be moderated by the recognition that we (the citizens) need Political Integrity 53 people who are both able and willing to do what is morally disagreeable. Additionally, it is important to note that typically politicians act to further the interests of their own compatriots or constituents, and this is not the same as acting so as to promote the greater good tout court.