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Political Morality (political + morality)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences80%

Selected Abstracts

Rational Ignorance and Political Morality,

PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006
Guido Pincione
People frequently advance political proposals in the name of a goal while remaining apparently indifferent to the fact that those proposals, if implemented, would frustrate that goal. Theorists of "deliberative democracy" purport to avoid this difficulty by arguing that deliberation is primarily about moral not empirical issues. We reject this view (the moral turn) and propose a method (The Display Test) to check whether a political utterance is best explained by the rational ignorance hypothesis or by the moral turn: the speaker must be prepared to openly acknowledge the bad consequences of his political position. If he is, the position is genuinely moral; if he is not, the position evinces either rational ignorance or posturing. We introduce deontological notions to explain when the moral turn works and when it does not. We discuss and reject possible replies, in particular the view that a moral-political stance insensitive to consequences relies on a distribution of moral responsibility in evildoing. Finally, we show that even the most plausible candidates for the category of purely moral political proposals are best explained by the rational ignorance/posturing hypothesis, if only because enforcing morality gives rise to complex causal issues. [source]

Household, politics and political morality in the reign of Henry VII

HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 217 2009
David Grummitt
Late fifteenth-century England, it has recently been suggested, experienced its own ,pre-Machiavellian moment', when the rules of politics and political morality were redefined in the crucible of civil war. Moreover, this was part of a wider western European shift in the nature of politics and one with which Henry, as an exile in Brittany and France, was personally acquainted. The Spanish ambassador's comment, therefore, that the king wished to rule in the ,French fashion' can be interpreted in terms of politics and morality as well as government and administration. This article will argue that the redefinition of political morality in Henry's reign centred upon a redefinition of the nature of the household and the role of household servants. It was manifested through changes in the institution of the royal household itself (the development of the privy chamber and financial machinery of the chamber) and through conflict over the role and meaning of the household. The unease and crisis around this redefinition of one of the cornerstones of late medieval political and social life was also reflected in discourse, such as in the poems of Skelton and in contemporary chronicles. Despite this disquiet, the alteration in political culture was lasting and defined the practice of politics throughout the remainder of the sixteenth century. [source]

Language and Nationalism in Italy

NATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 1 2006
JAMES STERGIOS
ABSTRACT. Language is a central gauge of a culture's desire for and ability to articulate a common cultural, and political, identity. As such, historical figures, as well as theorists and historians, often view linguistic standardisation as a critical step on the road to forging a nation. This article explores linguistic standardisation in Italy, focusing on the Cruscan Academy dictionaries, and assesses any links between the standardisation of Florentine and nationalism. It then compares the changing political terminology in Florentine to comparable terms in French and English. The article concludes that (a) unlike the cases of French and English and much current theory on linguistic standardisation, in Italy there was no connection between standardisation and nationalism; (b) the standardisation of Florentine was accompanied by the collapse of political concepts that could have been used to bolster a nationalist movement; and (c) Italian ideas about reason of state are distinguishable from other theoretical justifications of absolutism by the removal of political morality (virtù) from the political realm. [source]

Public health, political morality and compassion

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 3 2002
Gavin Mooney
Objective: To put the case that public health professionals have a responsibility to foster a more informed, autonomous community. Method: To argue that the current Australian Federal Government is failing to provide the impetus for building a compassionate society, particularly with respect to social justice for asylum seekers and Aboriginal people. Results: There is a need for public health professionals to assist in promoting an informed debate about what it means to be a minimally decent Australian. Conclusions and implications: Education of the citizenry and by the academy in public debate and public debating is the lifeblood of democracy. This is the ethical goal of public health. [source]