Ethics for Adversaries : The Morality of Roles in Public and Professional Life

A philosophical inquiry into arguments offered to defend advancing bad ends, deceiving, exploiting and despoiling, enforcing unjust laws, keeping confidences to the detriment of others or society and other seemingly wrongful actions by adversary professions such as law, business, and government. Applbaum (public policy, Harvard U.) finds that such justifications as rules of the game, fair play, consent, equilibrium, and institutional authority are weaker than most people assume. Ethics For Adversaries Is A Philosophical Inquiry Into Arguments That Are Offered To Defend Seemingly Wrongful Actions Performed By Those Who Occupy What Montaigne Called Necessary Offices. Applbaum Begins By Examining The Career Of Charles-henri Sanson, Who Is Appointed Executioner Of Paris By Louis Xvi And Serves The Punitive Needs Of The Ancien Regime For Decades. Come The French Revolution, The King's Executioner Becomes The King's Executioner, And He Ministers With Professional Detachment To Each Defeated Political Faction Throughout The Terror And Its Aftermath. By Exploring One Extraordinary Role And The Arguments That Can Be Offered In Its Defense, Applbaum Raises Unsettling Doubts About Arguments In Defense Of Less Sanguinary Professions And Their Practices. To Justify Harmful Acts, Adversaries Appeal To Arguments About The Rules Of The Game, Fair Play, Consent, The Social Construction Of Actions And Actors, Good Outcomes In Equilibrium, And The Legitimate Authority Of Institutions. Applbaum Concludes That These Arguments Are Weaker Than Supposed And Do Not Morally Justify Much Of The Violation That Professionals And Public Officials Inflict. Institutions And The Roles They Create Ordinarily Cannot Mint Moral Permissions To Do What Otherwise Would Be Morally Prohibited. Necessary Offices. Arguments For Adversaries ; Professional Detachment: The Executioner Of Paris -- Roles And Reasons. Doctor, Schmoctor: Practice Positivism And Its Complications ; The Remains Of The Role ; Are Lawyers Liars? The Argument Of Redescription -- Games And Violations. Rules Of The Game And Fair Play ; Are Violations Of Rights Ever Right? ; Ethics In Equilibrium -- Authority And Dissent. Democratic Legitimacy And Official Discretion ; Montaigne's Mistake. Arthur Isak Applbaum. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Main description: The adversary professions--law, business, and government, among others--typically claim a moral permission to violate persons in ways that, if not for the professional role, would be morally wrong. Lawyers advance bad ends and deceive, business managers exploit and despoil, public officials enforce unjust laws, and doctors keep confidences that, if disclosed, would prevent harm. Ethics for Adversaries is a philosophical inquiry into arguments that are offered to defend seemingly wrongful actions performed by those who occupy what Montaigne called "necessary offices." Applbaum begins by examining the career of Charles-Henri Sanson, who is appointed executioner of Paris by Louis XVI and serves the punitive needs of the ancien régime for decades. Come the French Revolution, the King's Executioner becomes the king's executioner, and he ministers with professional detachment to each defeated political faction throughout the Terror and its aftermath. By exploring one extraordinary role and the arguments that can be offered in its defense, Applbaum raises unsettling doubts about arguments in defense of less sanguinary professions and their practices. To justify harmful acts, adversaries appeal to arguments about the rules of the game, fair play, consent, the social construction of actions and actors, good outcomes in equilibrium, and the legitimate authority of institutions. Applbaum concludes that these arguments are weaker than supposed and do not morally justify much of the violation that professionals and public officials inflict. Institutions and the roles they create ordinarily cannot mint moral permissions to do what otherwise would be morally prohibited