Monthly Archives: September 2014

“The division of moral labor”, a solution to “dirty hands” or the political third rail?

Recently we have been reading the works of Waltzer and discussing his inevitable problem of “dirty hands” in the political realm. Waltzer and many others believe that the core requirement of a good leader is the ability to make expedient … Continue reading

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Politics & Morality : what they do and don’t mean to me

  I have been skeptical about submitting a substantial post. When semester began I was enrolled in The Sociology of Deviance, but that class was canceled due to low enrollment. Politics and Morality fit my time slot and my degree … Continue reading

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Compromise: Is it a good thing?

A lot of the discussion here has revolved around Dovi’s discussion of absolutists, and the issue of compromise.  It got me to thinking about compromise, so I went out and looked to figure out why compromise has gotten such a … Continue reading

Posted in Dirty Hands, Morality, Suzanne Dovi | Tagged | 21 Comments

Models and Morality

Way back in my very first post on this blog, I looked at some of the complexities that we had addressed in trying to define morality.  This post will look at another reason we have difficulty in fixing a definition, … Continue reading

Posted in Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer, Morality, Suzanne Dovi | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The Failure of the Moral Absolutist

There is only one absolute in life. It is a simple rule that may actually be the only rule that can’t be broken. A simple, profound idea that will stand the test of time: the only absolute is that there … Continue reading

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compromise? or COMPROMISE!

Walzer in his article The Problem of Dirty Hands, gives us a lot things to think about. However, Dovi seems to contradict Walzer and during our class discussion, we discussed a lot of awesome topics, however I think there’s one … Continue reading

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Pacifism, Appeasement, and Doing the Right Thing

In my last post, I examined Michael Walzer’s treatment of the Problem of Dirty Hands with regards to how it works for soldiers.  In this post I want to examine some points in  Suzanne Dovi’s criticism of Walzer’s treatment. One … Continue reading

Posted in Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer, Suzanne Dovi | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Civil Disobedience not Civil Service

What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea. Mahatma Gandhi Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi_5.html#gTitOr6ZigLuzp13.99 I have been trying to come up with an example of someone that I think is a moral … Continue reading

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Defining Morality

Last week in class, our discussion focused on morality. As strange as it was, for the better part of the class, it appeared as if we students were pretty much in agreement as to what we deemed moral within a … Continue reading

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Guilt and Duty—the Soldier’s Dirty Hands Problem

Michael Walzer’s “Political Action–The Problem of Dirty Hands” applies very well to soldiers, with some unique twists. Duty is one of the primary motivations for a soldier in combat. Continue reading

Posted in Dirty Hands, Michael Walzer | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments