Dirty Hands: Doing Wrong to do Right

Wijze, Stephen De

doi:10.1057/9780230625341_1

Cited by 28 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Famously, Walzer's (1973, 161) contention is that we may, sometimes, have to engage in acts that are on the one hand right, yet also somehow wrong. Similar arguments have been made by Thomas Nagel (1972) and Bernard Williams (1973a) and more recently by Michael Stocker (1990) and Stephen De Wijze (1994). Walzer (1973, 161) argues that although one cannot expect to govern innocently, this is not to say that one cannot do the right thing while governing: a particular act of government ‘may be exactly the right thing to do in utilitarian terms and yet leave the man who does it guilty of a moral wrong’.…”

Section: Defining Dhs and The Lesupporting

confidence: 82%

Bellamy on Dirty Hands and Lesser Evils: A Response

Wijze

Goodwin

2009

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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This article offers a response to Alex Bellamy's article 'Dirty Hands and Lesser Evils in the War on Terror'. It outlines deep errors in his claims about 'dirty hands' and 'lesser evils'. Essentially, these errors result from his failure to grapple with the complexity of dirty hands theory, coupled with his uncritical acceptance that dirty hands scenarios are essentially defined as a clash between a public and private morality. Furthermore, we argue that Bellamy's distinction between 'dirty hands' and 'lesser evils' is a spurious one since all dirty hands cases require a choice between lesser evils. In addition, we reject his claim that dirty hands makes no political sense. For illustrative purposes, we then briefly examine one problematic philosophical issue which needs attention if the notion of dirty hands is to be taken seriously. Finally, we demonstrate the usefulness of the concept of dirty hands by applying it to the issue of torture in the so-called 'war on terror'.

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Section: Defining Dhs and The Lesupporting

confidence: 82%

Bellamy on Dirty Hands and Lesser Evils: A Response

Wijze

Goodwin

2009

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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“…Esto que Luque ha calificado de "carepalismo" bien podría comprenderse en el marco del llamado "problema de las manos sucias" Walzer (1973) lo bautiza de este modo a partir de la obra de teatro homónima de Sarte. El dilema ha tenido un claro desarrollo hasta nuestros días (Coady 1995;Rynard y Shugarman 2000;López Restrepo 2006;Wijze 2007Wijze y 2018Meisels 2008;Bellamy R. 2010;Archard 2013), aunque su origen puede rastrearse hasta Maquiavello. La idea es que quien gobierna debe estar dispuesto a "ensuciarse las manos", es decir, que se reconoce la necesidad de los gobernantes, especialmente en situaciones extremas, de realizar acciones moralmente incorrectas, incluso reprobables, con el fin de preservar un bien mayor o simplemente evitar grandes males.…”

Section: Autoridades Dictatorialesunclassified

Los silencios de la tortura en Chile

Herceg

2020

Rev. cienc. polít. (Santiago)

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RESUMENEl presente texto busca mostrar que el silencio tuvo y tiene un papel central en el fenómeno de la tortura en Chile. Callan las autoridades dictatoriales sobre su ocurrencia, callan los perpetradores directos y callan todos los que están en el "pacto de silencio", así como también los que se benefician de ella. Calla el torturador cuando está interrogando con el objeto de extremar el terror, pero calla también la víctima que no delata. Calla el sobreviviente que no consigue articular un relato sobre lo vivido, calla todo el mundo aterrorizado ante la amenaza de ser torturado. Callan, finalmente las autoridades transicionales que buscan poner un punto final a la investigación sobre un pasado doloroso. ABSTRACTThe aim of this manuscript is to argue that the silence played a very important role in the phenomenon of torture in Chile. The dictatorial authorities were silent about its occurrence, the direct perpetrators are silent and all those who are part of the "pact of silence", as well as those who benefited from it. The torturer is silent when he is interrogating with the aim of spreading terror, but so is the victim who does not inform on the crime. The survivor who cannot articulate a story about his or her experience is silent, and everyone is terrified by the threat of being tortured. Finally, the transitional authorities who seek to put an end to the investigation into a painful past remain silent.

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“…Finally, I shall assume that that these conditions reflect how we best approach intractable moral conflict or dilemmas and as a result constitute an important part of the decision procedure that leads to a judgment on how we ought to act. I have discussed the defence of these assumptions at length elsewhere (de Wijze 1994(de Wijze , 2004.…”

Section: The Problem Of Dirty Handsmentioning

confidence: 99%