Public Ethics

Richard Bellamy, Professor, Department of Social Science, School of Public Policy, University College London, UK and Antonino Palumbo, Dr, Lecturer in Political Philosophy, Palermo University, Italy

• Contents: Introduction: the subject, approach and distinctiveness of public ethics, Richard Bellamy; Part I Dirty Hands: Political action: the problem of dirty hands, Michael Walzer; Dirty hands, Martin Hollis; The moral importance of dirty hands, Anthony P. Cunningham. Part II Violence: Liberal democratic torture, Steven Lukes; Why is violence bad?, Vittorio Bufacchi; Torture, Henry Shue. Part III Professional Ethics: Professional detachment: the executioner of Paris, Arthur Isak Applbaum; The philosophy of codes of ethics, L.L. Fuller; Moral responsibility in professional ethics, Gerald J. Postema. Part IV Corruption: Defining political corruption, Mark Philp; What does corruption mean in a democracy?, Mark E. Warren; Political corruption and democracy, Susan Rose-Ackerman; Mediated corruption: the case of the Keating Five, Dennis F. Thompson. Part V Public Reason, Lying, Secrecy and Privacy: The scope of public reason, Jonathan Quong; The right to lie: Kant on dealing with evil, Christine M. Korsgaard; Democratic secrecy, Dennis F. Thompson; Can public figures have private lives?, Frederick Schauer. Part VI Cost-Benefit Analysis and Moral Absolutes: Risk, fear, blame, shame and the regulation of public safety, Jonathan Wolff; A place for cost-benefit analysis, David Schmidtz; The stupidity of the cost-benefit standard, Henry S. Richardson; Name Index.