The Good Wife and Philosophy: Temptations of Saint Alicia (Popular Culture and Philosophy Book 76)

In The Good Wife and Philosophy, fifteen philosophers look at the deeper issues raised by this stirring TV drama. The Good Wife gives us courtroom battles in the tradition of Perry Mason, with the added dimension of a political intrigue and a tormented personal story. We witness the interplay between common morality and legal correctness; sometimes following one violates the other. Lawyers operate within the law and within legal ethics, yet routinely do harmful things in pursuit of their clients' interests. The adversarial system leads to such strategies as stringing out a case to exhaust the other side's resources and bringing suits ostensibly because of wrongdoing by defendants but really to curtail the defendants as a competitive threat to some important client's interest. The idea for The Good Wife came from the recurring news drama of wives standing by their husbands when scandal breaks: the wives of Bill Clinton, Elliott Spitzer, and John Edwards. Often these politicians' spouses are themselves lawyers who have had to cope with the gray areas of legal battles and maneuvering. Following her husband's disgrace and imprisonment, Alicia Florrick has to return to the law, which she abandoned for the sake of being a full-time wife and mother.|In The Good Wife and Philosophy, fifteen philosophers look at the deeper issues raised by this stirring TV drama. The Good Wife gives us courtroom battles in the tradition of Perry Mason, with the added dimension of a political intrigue and a tormented personal story. We witness the interplay between common morality and legal correctness; sometimes following one violates the other. Lawyers operate within the law and within legal ethics, yet routinely do harmful things in pursuit of their clients' interests. The adversarial system leads to such strategies as stringing out a case to exhaust the other side's resources and bringing suits ostensibly because of wrongdoing by defendants but really to curtail the defendants as a competitive threat to some important client's interest. The idea for The Good Wife came from the recurring news drama of wives standing by their husbands when scandal breaks: the wives of Bill Clinton, Elliott Spitzer, and John Edwards. Often these politicians' spouses are themselves lawyers who have had to cope with the gray areas of legal battles and maneuvering. Following her husband's disgrace and imprisonment, Alicia Florrick has to return to the law, which she abandoned for the sake of being a full-time wife and mother. Table of Contents The Good Wife and the Real Life | Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Robert Arp I: ETHICALLY SPEAKING 1. Legal Ethics! Really? | Judith Andre 2. Death's Just a Click Away | Jai Galliott 3. The Odd Consequences of Sweeney the Snake | Rod Carveth II: WHY SHE'S THE GOOD WIFE 4. How to Love When You're a Good Wife | Celine Morin 5. Saint Alicia and the Burden of Care | Kathleen Poorman Dougherty III: THE DEFENSE RESTS 6. Are Judges Always Biased? | Mark D. White 7. Why Should I Believe You? | Lisa McNulty 8. Doing the Wrong Thing for a Good Reason | James Edwin Mahon IV: PSYCHOBABBLE 9. Peter's Peter Problem | Skyler King and Robert Arp 10. The Death Drive in the Good Wife | Roger Hunt V: A BALANCING ACT 11. Can a Good Wife Have It All? | Jennifer Swanson 12. Bringing Home the Bacon | Karen Adkins VI: VIRTUES AND VICES 13. The Virtue of a Politician's Spouse | John R. Fitzpatrick 14. Alicia Saint of Professionals | Ana Carolina Azevedo and Marco Antonio Azevedo Women Lawyers - Good, Bad, and Memorable Philosophers Who Were Also Lawyers The Top Eleven Lawyer Jokes Equity Partners and Associations Index