Dirty Hands and Suffering. Issue 160 (1st September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tillyris, Demetris
• Is Part Of: Theoria. Volume 66:Issue 160(2019)
• Page Start: 95
• Page End: 121
• Publication Date: 2019-09-01
• Subjects: dirty hands -- moral conflict -- public ethics -- suffering -- value pluralism; Arts -- Periodicals; Humanities -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals; 082
• DOI: 10.3167/th.2019.6616006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-5817

Abstract

Abstract : Contra the prevalent way of thinking about the dirty-hands problem, this article suggests that dirty hands need not necessarily entail suffering and that a politician who does not suffer for his dirty-handed acts should not be cast as a bad politician. In so doing, the article: (i) argues that the connection between DH and suffering is unsatisfactorily totalising and rests on a contentious conception of conflict as a dysfunction and (ii) develops an alternative account of the good dirty-handed politician, which is associated with what proponents of the prevalent view of the problem find impossible: calm acceptance of – even indulgence in – one's dirt. This recognition has important implications for our contemporary culture of contrition and for the way we evaluate the characters of our politicians.