Jon Elster
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199281688
- eISBN:
- 9780191603747
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199281688.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This essay considers how the American and French revolutionaries, famous defenders of the ideal of equality, contrived to evade the implications of that ideal when it came to slaves or workers. It ...
More
This essay considers how the American and French revolutionaries, famous defenders of the ideal of equality, contrived to evade the implications of that ideal when it came to slaves or workers. It contends that the hypocrisy of the revolutionaries is particularly egregious given that they stood to profit personally from the reduced scope of their egalitarianism.Less
This essay considers how the American and French revolutionaries, famous defenders of the ideal of equality, contrived to evade the implications of that ideal when it came to slaves or workers. It contends that the hypocrisy of the revolutionaries is particularly egregious given that they stood to profit personally from the reduced scope of their egalitarianism.
Elena A. Iankova and Peter J. Katzenstein
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199257409
- eISBN:
- 9780191600951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019925740X.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
Provides an account of the status of the enlargement process in the EU, both in the candidate countries and in terms of institutional changes at the EU level. In particular, it argues that European ...
More
Provides an account of the status of the enlargement process in the EU, both in the candidate countries and in terms of institutional changes at the EU level. In particular, it argues that European enlargement is a combination of ‘institutional and political hypocrisy’. While political hypocrisy is the result of the purposeful strategy of specific actors that wilfully disobey EU law, institutional hypocrisy results from involuntary non‐compliance due to the lack of capacity or clarity; both have been a systemic feature of legal integration and a major driving force of the European constitutionalization process. However, as the heterogeneity of the EU member states increases, enlargement may well lead to a substantial erosion of the legal and policy coherence of the EU. The first section of the chapter discusses the problem of non‐compliance, the second characterizes the European polity as resulting from the enmeshment of the process of Europe's legal integration with different national legal systems, the third and fourth sections discuss the southern and eastern enlargements of the EU, and the fifth section concludes by pointing to differences in national legal traditions that make institutional and political hypocrisy a systemic outcome of the process of European enlargement.Less
Provides an account of the status of the enlargement process in the EU, both in the candidate countries and in terms of institutional changes at the EU level. In particular, it argues that European enlargement is a combination of ‘institutional and political hypocrisy’. While political hypocrisy is the result of the purposeful strategy of specific actors that wilfully disobey EU law, institutional hypocrisy results from involuntary non‐compliance due to the lack of capacity or clarity; both have been a systemic feature of legal integration and a major driving force of the European constitutionalization process. However, as the heterogeneity of the EU member states increases, enlargement may well lead to a substantial erosion of the legal and policy coherence of the EU. The first section of the chapter discusses the problem of non‐compliance, the second characterizes the European polity as resulting from the enmeshment of the process of Europe's legal integration with different national legal systems, the third and fourth sections discuss the southern and eastern enlargements of the EU, and the fifth section concludes by pointing to differences in national legal traditions that make institutional and political hypocrisy a systemic outcome of the process of European enlargement.
Patricia Owens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199299362
- eISBN:
- 9780191715051
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299362.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
This book studies war in the thought of one of the 20th-century's most important and original political thinkers, Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt's writing was fundamentally rooted in her understanding ...
More
This book studies war in the thought of one of the 20th-century's most important and original political thinkers, Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt's writing was fundamentally rooted in her understanding of war and its political significance. But this element of her work has surprisingly been neglected in international and political theory. This book assesses the full range of Arendt's historical and conceptual writing on war and introduces to international theory the distinct language she used to talk about war and the political world. It builds on her re-thinking of old concepts such as power, violence, greatness, world, imperialism, evil, hypocrisy, and humanity and introduces some that are new to international thought like plurality, action, agonism, natality, and political immortality. Chapters engage Arendt's writing in dialogue with various schools of political and international theory, including realism, liberalism, constructivism, post-structuralism, post-colonial thought, neoconservatism, and Habermas-inspired critical theory. Re-reading Arendt's writing — forged through firsthand experience of occupation and struggles for liberation, political founding, and resistance in time of war — reveals a more serious engagement with war than her earlier readers have recognised. Arendt's political theory makes more sense when it is understood in the context of her thinking about war and we can think about the history and theory of warfare, and international politics in new ways by thinking with Arendt.Less
This book studies war in the thought of one of the 20th-century's most important and original political thinkers, Hannah Arendt. Hannah Arendt's writing was fundamentally rooted in her understanding of war and its political significance. But this element of her work has surprisingly been neglected in international and political theory. This book assesses the full range of Arendt's historical and conceptual writing on war and introduces to international theory the distinct language she used to talk about war and the political world. It builds on her re-thinking of old concepts such as power, violence, greatness, world, imperialism, evil, hypocrisy, and humanity and introduces some that are new to international thought like plurality, action, agonism, natality, and political immortality. Chapters engage Arendt's writing in dialogue with various schools of political and international theory, including realism, liberalism, constructivism, post-structuralism, post-colonial thought, neoconservatism, and Habermas-inspired critical theory. Re-reading Arendt's writing — forged through firsthand experience of occupation and struggles for liberation, political founding, and resistance in time of war — reveals a more serious engagement with war than her earlier readers have recognised. Arendt's political theory makes more sense when it is understood in the context of her thinking about war and we can think about the history and theory of warfare, and international politics in new ways by thinking with Arendt.
Patricia Owens
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199299362
- eISBN:
- 9780191715051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199299362.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
Arendt was wholly ambivalent about the liberal discourse of human rights and by extension, it is argued, wars justified in their name. She can be read as far less sanguine about the apparent ...
More
Arendt was wholly ambivalent about the liberal discourse of human rights and by extension, it is argued, wars justified in their name. She can be read as far less sanguine about the apparent progressiveness of human rights ideologies than other of her readers have suggested. This argument is made through an analysis of her writing on violence and hypocrisy. Arendt's work is filled with examples of violent rage against hypocrisy, but also how hypocrisy can enable cruelty. Above all, Arendt was a defender of the created, public world where it is only possible to judge words and actions, not motives. And yet Arendt does not leave us without grounds to act against genocide. These grounds are not based on the large numbers of dead, on levels of cruelty as such. Wars of annihilation cannot be tolerated because they attack the fundamental basis of all politics which is human plurality.Less
Arendt was wholly ambivalent about the liberal discourse of human rights and by extension, it is argued, wars justified in their name. She can be read as far less sanguine about the apparent progressiveness of human rights ideologies than other of her readers have suggested. This argument is made through an analysis of her writing on violence and hypocrisy. Arendt's work is filled with examples of violent rage against hypocrisy, but also how hypocrisy can enable cruelty. Above all, Arendt was a defender of the created, public world where it is only possible to judge words and actions, not motives. And yet Arendt does not leave us without grounds to act against genocide. These grounds are not based on the large numbers of dead, on levels of cruelty as such. Wars of annihilation cannot be tolerated because they attack the fundamental basis of all politics which is human plurality.
Vincent Shing Cheng
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9789888455683
- eISBN:
- 9789888455645
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455683.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
Although the official propaganda surrounding the drug detainees in China is that of helping, educating, and saving them from their drug habits and the drug dealers who lure them into drug abuse, it ...
More
Although the official propaganda surrounding the drug detainees in China is that of helping, educating, and saving them from their drug habits and the drug dealers who lure them into drug abuse, it is clear, according to Vincent Shing Cheng, that those who have gone through the rehabilitation system lost their trust in the Communist Party’s promise of help and consider it a failure. Based on first-hand information and established ideas in prison research, Hypocrisy gives an ethnographic account of reality and experiences of drug detainees in China and provides a glimpse into a population that is very hard to reach and study. Cheng argues that there is a discrepancy between the propaganda of ‘helping’ and ‘saving’ drug users in detention or rehabilitation centres and the reality of ‘humiliating’ them and making them prime targets of control. Such a discrepancy is possibly threatening rather than enhancing the party-state’s legitimacy. He concludes the book by demonstrating how the gulf between rhetoric and reality can illuminate many other systems, even in much less extreme societies than China.Less
Although the official propaganda surrounding the drug detainees in China is that of helping, educating, and saving them from their drug habits and the drug dealers who lure them into drug abuse, it is clear, according to Vincent Shing Cheng, that those who have gone through the rehabilitation system lost their trust in the Communist Party’s promise of help and consider it a failure. Based on first-hand information and established ideas in prison research, Hypocrisy gives an ethnographic account of reality and experiences of drug detainees in China and provides a glimpse into a population that is very hard to reach and study. Cheng argues that there is a discrepancy between the propaganda of ‘helping’ and ‘saving’ drug users in detention or rehabilitation centres and the reality of ‘humiliating’ them and making them prime targets of control. Such a discrepancy is possibly threatening rather than enhancing the party-state’s legitimacy. He concludes the book by demonstrating how the gulf between rhetoric and reality can illuminate many other systems, even in much less extreme societies than China.
Jon Hall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195329063
- eISBN:
- 9780199870233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329063.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the more manipulative and self-interested uses of affiliative politeness among Cicero's correspondents. It suggests that at times it is difficult for us to distinguish between ...
More
This chapter explores the more manipulative and self-interested uses of affiliative politeness among Cicero's correspondents. It suggests that at times it is difficult for us to distinguish between hypocritically fawning remarks (blanditiae) and conventionally supportive polite fictions. The contextual cues on which Cicero would have based his own judgements are often unavailable to the modern reader. Several letters are examined in order to illustrate these interpretative challenges: Cicero's exchanges with Mark Antony in 49 B.C and 44 B.C., a letter from Cassius Parmensis to Cicero, and letters from Marcus Lepidus to Cicero. In several instances we may well suspect deceptive intentions on the part of the writer, and such hypocrisy seems to have been a regular feature of Roman political life. The exploitation of this potentially deceptive language was facilitated to a considerable degree by the conventionalized use of polite fictions in everyday aristocratic correspondence.Less
This chapter explores the more manipulative and self-interested uses of affiliative politeness among Cicero's correspondents. It suggests that at times it is difficult for us to distinguish between hypocritically fawning remarks (blanditiae) and conventionally supportive polite fictions. The contextual cues on which Cicero would have based his own judgements are often unavailable to the modern reader. Several letters are examined in order to illustrate these interpretative challenges: Cicero's exchanges with Mark Antony in 49 B.C and 44 B.C., a letter from Cassius Parmensis to Cicero, and letters from Marcus Lepidus to Cicero. In several instances we may well suspect deceptive intentions on the part of the writer, and such hypocrisy seems to have been a regular feature of Roman political life. The exploitation of this potentially deceptive language was facilitated to a considerable degree by the conventionalized use of polite fictions in everyday aristocratic correspondence.
Geoffrey Brennan and Philip Pettit
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199246489
- eISBN:
- 9780191601460
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199246483.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
One possible effect of increased publicity for performance is on public perceptions of prevailing standards–and this effect will intensify or moderate esteem incentives. As a result, providers of ...
More
One possible effect of increased publicity for performance is on public perceptions of prevailing standards–and this effect will intensify or moderate esteem incentives. As a result, providers of information who wish to preserve high performance may have incentives to withhold certain kinds of information or to distort the information they do provide–and sometimes such withholding/distortion has desirable consequences. This complication may give rise to a certain kind of legitimate public hypocrisy. The normative implications of information provision are explored under the rubric of the ‘whistle-blower’s dilemma’.Less
One possible effect of increased publicity for performance is on public perceptions of prevailing standards–and this effect will intensify or moderate esteem incentives. As a result, providers of information who wish to preserve high performance may have incentives to withhold certain kinds of information or to distort the information they do provide–and sometimes such withholding/distortion has desirable consequences. This complication may give rise to a certain kind of legitimate public hypocrisy. The normative implications of information provision are explored under the rubric of the ‘whistle-blower’s dilemma’.
Patricia Spacks
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226768601
- eISBN:
- 9780226768618
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226768618.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
Today we consider privacy a right to be protected. But in eighteenth-century England, privacy was seen as a problem, even a threat. Women reading alone and people hiding their true thoughts from one ...
More
Today we consider privacy a right to be protected. But in eighteenth-century England, privacy was seen as a problem, even a threat. Women reading alone and people hiding their true thoughts from one another in conversation generated fears of uncontrollable fantasies and profound anxieties about insincerity. This book explores eighteenth-century concerns about privacy and the strategies people developed to avoid public scrutiny and social pressure. The book examines, for instance, the way people hid behind common rules of etiquette to mask their innermost feelings and how, in fact, people were taught to employ such devices. It considers the erotic overtones that privacy aroused in its suppression of deeper desires. And perhaps most important, the book explores the idea of privacy as a societal threat—one that bred pretense and hypocrisy in its practitioners. Through readings of novels by Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne, along with a glimpse into diaries, autobiographies, poems, and works of pornography written during the period, the book shows how writers charted the imaginative possibilities of privacy and its social repercussions.Less
Today we consider privacy a right to be protected. But in eighteenth-century England, privacy was seen as a problem, even a threat. Women reading alone and people hiding their true thoughts from one another in conversation generated fears of uncontrollable fantasies and profound anxieties about insincerity. This book explores eighteenth-century concerns about privacy and the strategies people developed to avoid public scrutiny and social pressure. The book examines, for instance, the way people hid behind common rules of etiquette to mask their innermost feelings and how, in fact, people were taught to employ such devices. It considers the erotic overtones that privacy aroused in its suppression of deeper desires. And perhaps most important, the book explores the idea of privacy as a societal threat—one that bred pretense and hypocrisy in its practitioners. Through readings of novels by Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne, along with a glimpse into diaries, autobiographies, poems, and works of pornography written during the period, the book shows how writers charted the imaginative possibilities of privacy and its social repercussions.
George Anastaplo
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125336
- eISBN:
- 9780813135243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125336.003.0013
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter considers as examples, how Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin spoke during the great public crises in their careers, especially when war began between their countries. It notes that their ...
More
This chapter considers as examples, how Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin spoke during the great public crises in their careers, especially when war began between their countries. It notes that their respective publics — the people at large in Germany and Russia — had to be appealed to by moral exhortations. It further notes that similar language was used in appealing even to their respective party loyalist. It observes that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. It points out that this is particularly evident when leaders of dubious character attempt to guide their communities with respect to life-and-death issues. It further observes that it is when the stakes seem the highest, that public discourse tends to be the most moralistic.Less
This chapter considers as examples, how Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin spoke during the great public crises in their careers, especially when war began between their countries. It notes that their respective publics — the people at large in Germany and Russia — had to be appealed to by moral exhortations. It further notes that similar language was used in appealing even to their respective party loyalist. It observes that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. It points out that this is particularly evident when leaders of dubious character attempt to guide their communities with respect to life-and-death issues. It further observes that it is when the stakes seem the highest, that public discourse tends to be the most moralistic.
Lisa I. Knight
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199773541
- eISBN:
- 9780199897353
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199773541.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter looks closely at songs performed and composed by Baul women. Bauls are especially well known for their evocative songs, and they use their songs to further personal as well as societal ...
More
This chapter looks closely at songs performed and composed by Baul women. Bauls are especially well known for their evocative songs, and they use their songs to further personal as well as societal changes. Baul women, like Baul men, utilize the performance setting to cultivate their identity, earn an income, and communicate the kinds of messages they believe are important. Examined also is how these songs, especially those composed by women, relate to the lives of the women who sing them.Less
This chapter looks closely at songs performed and composed by Baul women. Bauls are especially well known for their evocative songs, and they use their songs to further personal as well as societal changes. Baul women, like Baul men, utilize the performance setting to cultivate their identity, earn an income, and communicate the kinds of messages they believe are important. Examined also is how these songs, especially those composed by women, relate to the lives of the women who sing them.
Macalester Bell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199794140
- eISBN:
- 9780199332625
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794140.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Contempt is often derided as a thoroughly nasty emotion inimical to the respect we owe all persons, but ethicists have said little about what contempt is or whether it deserves its ugly reputation. ...
More
Contempt is often derided as a thoroughly nasty emotion inimical to the respect we owe all persons, but ethicists have said little about what contempt is or whether it deserves its ugly reputation. In Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt, Macalester Bell argues that we must reconsider contempt’s role in our moral lives. While contempt can be experienced in inapt and disvaluable ways, it may also be a perfectly appropriate response that provides the best way of answering a range of neglected faults. Using a wide range of examples, Bell provides an account of the nature of contempt and its virtues and vices. While some insist that contempt is always unfitting due to its globalism, Bell argues that this objection mischaracterizes the person assessments at the heart of contempt. Contempt is, in some cases, the best way to respond to arrogance, hypocrisy, and other vices of superiority. Contempt does have a dark side, and inapt forms of contempt structure a host of social ills. Racism is best characterized as an especially pernicious form of inapt contempt, and Bell’s account of contempt helps us better understand the moral badness of racism. Race-based contempt is best answered by mobilizing a robust counter-contempt for racists and others who contemn inaptly. The book concludes with a discussion of overcoming contempt through forgiveness. This account of forgiveness sheds light upon the broader issue of social reconciliation and what role reparations and memorials may play in giving persons reasons to overcome their contempt for institutions.Less
Contempt is often derided as a thoroughly nasty emotion inimical to the respect we owe all persons, but ethicists have said little about what contempt is or whether it deserves its ugly reputation. In Hard Feelings: The Moral Psychology of Contempt, Macalester Bell argues that we must reconsider contempt’s role in our moral lives. While contempt can be experienced in inapt and disvaluable ways, it may also be a perfectly appropriate response that provides the best way of answering a range of neglected faults. Using a wide range of examples, Bell provides an account of the nature of contempt and its virtues and vices. While some insist that contempt is always unfitting due to its globalism, Bell argues that this objection mischaracterizes the person assessments at the heart of contempt. Contempt is, in some cases, the best way to respond to arrogance, hypocrisy, and other vices of superiority. Contempt does have a dark side, and inapt forms of contempt structure a host of social ills. Racism is best characterized as an especially pernicious form of inapt contempt, and Bell’s account of contempt helps us better understand the moral badness of racism. Race-based contempt is best answered by mobilizing a robust counter-contempt for racists and others who contemn inaptly. The book concludes with a discussion of overcoming contempt through forgiveness. This account of forgiveness sheds light upon the broader issue of social reconciliation and what role reparations and memorials may play in giving persons reasons to overcome their contempt for institutions.
G. A. Cohen
Michael Otsuka (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691148809
- eISBN:
- 9781400845323
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691148809.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter addresses a few questions: What, exactly, is the scope of tu quoque? When does it have force? In addition, the chapter considers what explains that force and how exactly does tu quoque ...
More
This chapter addresses a few questions: What, exactly, is the scope of tu quoque? When does it have force? In addition, the chapter considers what explains that force and how exactly does tu quoque disable moral condemnation, in the general case. The chapter first looks at two ways of narrowing the scope of tu quoque, each of which modifies and moderates the “strong Jesus view:” “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” It then explains the force of tu quoque as a certain form of inconsistency, whereby the force of tu quoque locates that force in a certain form of hypocrisy. The chapter concludes with additional insights on the nature of tu quoque and discusses the terrorist threat in liberal democracies.Less
This chapter addresses a few questions: What, exactly, is the scope of tu quoque? When does it have force? In addition, the chapter considers what explains that force and how exactly does tu quoque disable moral condemnation, in the general case. The chapter first looks at two ways of narrowing the scope of tu quoque, each of which modifies and moderates the “strong Jesus view:” “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” It then explains the force of tu quoque as a certain form of inconsistency, whereby the force of tu quoque locates that force in a certain form of hypocrisy. The chapter concludes with additional insights on the nature of tu quoque and discusses the terrorist threat in liberal democracies.
Nicolette Zeeman
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198860242
- eISBN:
- 9780191892431
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198860242.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The Arts of Disruption offers a series of new readings of the allegorical poem Piers Plowman: but it is also a book about allegory. It argues not just that there are distinctively disruptive ‘arts’ ...
More
The Arts of Disruption offers a series of new readings of the allegorical poem Piers Plowman: but it is also a book about allegory. It argues not just that there are distinctively disruptive ‘arts’ that occur in allegory, but that allegory, because it is interested in the difficulty of making meaning, is itself a disruptive art. The book approaches this topic via the study of five medieval allegorical narrative structures that exploit diegetic conflict and disruption. Although very different, they all bring together contrasting descriptions of spiritual process, in order to develop new understanding and excite moral or devotional change. These five structures are: the paradiastolic ‘hypocritical figure’ (such as vices masked by being made to look like ‘adjacent’ virtues), personification debate, violent language and gestures of apophasis, narratives of bodily decline, and grail romance. Each appears in a range of texts, which the book explores, along with other connected materials in medieval rhetoric, logic, grammar, spiritual thought, ethics, medicine, and romance iconography. These allegorical narrative structures appear radically transformed in Piers Plowman, where the poem makes further meaning out of the friction between them. Much of the allegorical work of the poem occurs at the points of their intersection, and within the conceptual gaps that open up between them. Ranging across a wide variety of medieval allegorical texts, the book shows from many perspectives allegory’s juxtaposition of the heterogeneous and its questioning of supposed continuities.Less
The Arts of Disruption offers a series of new readings of the allegorical poem Piers Plowman: but it is also a book about allegory. It argues not just that there are distinctively disruptive ‘arts’ that occur in allegory, but that allegory, because it is interested in the difficulty of making meaning, is itself a disruptive art. The book approaches this topic via the study of five medieval allegorical narrative structures that exploit diegetic conflict and disruption. Although very different, they all bring together contrasting descriptions of spiritual process, in order to develop new understanding and excite moral or devotional change. These five structures are: the paradiastolic ‘hypocritical figure’ (such as vices masked by being made to look like ‘adjacent’ virtues), personification debate, violent language and gestures of apophasis, narratives of bodily decline, and grail romance. Each appears in a range of texts, which the book explores, along with other connected materials in medieval rhetoric, logic, grammar, spiritual thought, ethics, medicine, and romance iconography. These allegorical narrative structures appear radically transformed in Piers Plowman, where the poem makes further meaning out of the friction between them. Much of the allegorical work of the poem occurs at the points of their intersection, and within the conceptual gaps that open up between them. Ranging across a wide variety of medieval allegorical texts, the book shows from many perspectives allegory’s juxtaposition of the heterogeneous and its questioning of supposed continuities.
John Kane and Haig Patapan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199650477
- eISBN:
- 9780191739071
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199650477.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Theory
Democracy is held to be the most honest and open form of government, yet democratic citizens typically feel that their leaders are seldom completely truthful. This chapter explores in depth this ...
More
Democracy is held to be the most honest and open form of government, yet democratic citizens typically feel that their leaders are seldom completely truthful. This chapter explores in depth this commonplace paradox. Part of the issue is that democracies want a moral leader who will also do whatever is needed for the sake of the sovereign people. The tension between the moral and the necessary proves to be an intractable problem for democracies, and gives rise to the persistent dilemma of hypocrisy for democratic leaders.Less
Democracy is held to be the most honest and open form of government, yet democratic citizens typically feel that their leaders are seldom completely truthful. This chapter explores in depth this commonplace paradox. Part of the issue is that democracies want a moral leader who will also do whatever is needed for the sake of the sovereign people. The tension between the moral and the necessary proves to be an intractable problem for democracies, and gives rise to the persistent dilemma of hypocrisy for democratic leaders.
Frances Howard‐Snyder
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199603213
- eISBN:
- 9780191725388
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199603213.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter defines hypocrisy as moral inconsistency where the subject does x, while making some verbal or behavioral expression of the claim that x is wrong. It considers purported counterexamples ...
More
This chapter defines hypocrisy as moral inconsistency where the subject does x, while making some verbal or behavioral expression of the claim that x is wrong. It considers purported counterexamples and argues that the original definition survives most of these, although it may need a little tinkering. The second half deals with the concern that moral realism has a difficult time explaining why hypocrisy is so objectionable, while constructivist moral theories can more easily explain this. In response the author argues that, even if realism is true, the hypocrite is guilty of the special vice of knowingly doing what is wrong. Either she is acting wrongly or she is wrongly condemning or blaming others or placing unnecessary burdens on them. This is true even (or maybe especially) in cases where it isn't clear what the right action is. If we think of hypocrisy as a vice (rather than a wrong action) this seems to illuminate its special sort of badness.Less
This chapter defines hypocrisy as moral inconsistency where the subject does x, while making some verbal or behavioral expression of the claim that x is wrong. It considers purported counterexamples and argues that the original definition survives most of these, although it may need a little tinkering. The second half deals with the concern that moral realism has a difficult time explaining why hypocrisy is so objectionable, while constructivist moral theories can more easily explain this. In response the author argues that, even if realism is true, the hypocrite is guilty of the special vice of knowingly doing what is wrong. Either she is acting wrongly or she is wrongly condemning or blaming others or placing unnecessary burdens on them. This is true even (or maybe especially) in cases where it isn't clear what the right action is. If we think of hypocrisy as a vice (rather than a wrong action) this seems to illuminate its special sort of badness.
Thomas F. Staley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813035291
- eISBN:
- 9780813038483
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813035291.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter focuses on the issue of moral responsibility highlighted in James Joyce's “Clay.” Most of the critical exegesis of Joyce's “Clay” reveals a great deal of dexterity on the part of the ...
More
This chapter focuses on the issue of moral responsibility highlighted in James Joyce's “Clay.” Most of the critical exegesis of Joyce's “Clay” reveals a great deal of dexterity on the part of the nearly dozen critics who have written on this popular story. The structure of the story is based upon Maria's recognition of the hypocrisy of her existence through a series of encounters with her fellow Dubliners. The theme of the disintegration of human understanding and love is enforced by each and every social relationship that the story unfolds. In “Clay” Joyce gives a glimpse of the great moral theme of Ulysses: man's lack of a sense of responsibility to himself and to his fellow man.Less
This chapter focuses on the issue of moral responsibility highlighted in James Joyce's “Clay.” Most of the critical exegesis of Joyce's “Clay” reveals a great deal of dexterity on the part of the nearly dozen critics who have written on this popular story. The structure of the story is based upon Maria's recognition of the hypocrisy of her existence through a series of encounters with her fellow Dubliners. The theme of the disintegration of human understanding and love is enforced by each and every social relationship that the story unfolds. In “Clay” Joyce gives a glimpse of the great moral theme of Ulysses: man's lack of a sense of responsibility to himself and to his fellow man.
Jonathan Arac
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823231782
- eISBN:
- 9780823241149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823231782.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The life of Charles Baudelaire was not committed to remaking the world except in poetry, yet his experience was deeply marked by the violent political energies of nineteenth-century France. In ...
More
The life of Charles Baudelaire was not committed to remaking the world except in poetry, yet his experience was deeply marked by the violent political energies of nineteenth-century France. In addition to Baudelaire's life, he has been through different circumstances that offered a vivid emblem of his messy history. In addition, the prostitute has a further place in Baudelaire's poetry. The prostitute not only violates bourgeois decency and criticizes its hypocrisy by taking it to an unacknowledged logical extreme, but she also images the poet. Moreover, his short poems that respond to two possibilities are included here for discussion.Less
The life of Charles Baudelaire was not committed to remaking the world except in poetry, yet his experience was deeply marked by the violent political energies of nineteenth-century France. In addition to Baudelaire's life, he has been through different circumstances that offered a vivid emblem of his messy history. In addition, the prostitute has a further place in Baudelaire's poetry. The prostitute not only violates bourgeois decency and criticizes its hypocrisy by taking it to an unacknowledged logical extreme, but she also images the poet. Moreover, his short poems that respond to two possibilities are included here for discussion.
Paul Woodruff
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190883645
- eISBN:
- 9780190883676
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190883645.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
I derive an account of what future leaders should learn from an understanding of leadership as the ability to induce others to follow in a context of freedom—without the use of force or incentives. ...
More
I derive an account of what future leaders should learn from an understanding of leadership as the ability to induce others to follow in a context of freedom—without the use of force or incentives. Such leadership is needed in every walk of life and in every profession; it is inherently ethical, but it needs to take into account the frequent ugliness of the human situation. This is an account of leadership for all seasons. From this I propose a curriculum for general education of all students in higher education, including literature, history, philosophy, social science, and communication skills—all presented in a way to support the growth of students toward leadership. In addition, I propose new ways of thinking about education outside the classroom, through sports and other organizations. I end with recommendations for teaching methods that are conducive to the development of students as leaders, especially teamwork assignments that give students opportunities to evaluate their own leadership.Less
I derive an account of what future leaders should learn from an understanding of leadership as the ability to induce others to follow in a context of freedom—without the use of force or incentives. Such leadership is needed in every walk of life and in every profession; it is inherently ethical, but it needs to take into account the frequent ugliness of the human situation. This is an account of leadership for all seasons. From this I propose a curriculum for general education of all students in higher education, including literature, history, philosophy, social science, and communication skills—all presented in a way to support the growth of students toward leadership. In addition, I propose new ways of thinking about education outside the classroom, through sports and other organizations. I end with recommendations for teaching methods that are conducive to the development of students as leaders, especially teamwork assignments that give students opportunities to evaluate their own leadership.
Tony Jason Stafford and R. F. Dietrich
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813044989
- eISBN:
- 9780813046747
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813044989.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
By examining Shaw’s use of the garden and the library in Widowers’ Houses in meticulous detail, one gains an appreciation of the complexity, subtlety, and mastery which Shaw therein reveals, as well ...
More
By examining Shaw’s use of the garden and the library in Widowers’ Houses in meticulous detail, one gains an appreciation of the complexity, subtlety, and mastery which Shaw therein reveals, as well as an insight into the play’s deeper textual implications. Satorius, whose mother was a poor washerwoman, has pulled himself up from extreme poverty by making a fortune in slum dwellings and presently craves nothing more in the world than for him and his daughter to be accepted by upper class society, a desire which is dramatized by means of the garden and library. Widowers’ Houses also exposes the heartlessness and injustices of British society. It is a remarkable example of Shaw’s dramatic practice of integrating gardens and libraries into the revelation of characters (as well as the implications of their names), the delineation of conflict, the symbolic value of the settings, the establishment of atmosphere, and the development of the theme of pretense and hypocrisy.Less
By examining Shaw’s use of the garden and the library in Widowers’ Houses in meticulous detail, one gains an appreciation of the complexity, subtlety, and mastery which Shaw therein reveals, as well as an insight into the play’s deeper textual implications. Satorius, whose mother was a poor washerwoman, has pulled himself up from extreme poverty by making a fortune in slum dwellings and presently craves nothing more in the world than for him and his daughter to be accepted by upper class society, a desire which is dramatized by means of the garden and library. Widowers’ Houses also exposes the heartlessness and injustices of British society. It is a remarkable example of Shaw’s dramatic practice of integrating gardens and libraries into the revelation of characters (as well as the implications of their names), the delineation of conflict, the symbolic value of the settings, the establishment of atmosphere, and the development of the theme of pretense and hypocrisy.
Philippe Rochat
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- December 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190057657
- eISBN:
- 9780190057688
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190057657.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Moral hypocrisy and duplicity are the rule rather than just exceptions. Both are inseparable from self-consciousness and humans’ unique concern for reputation. It is linked to face-maintenance ...
More
Moral hypocrisy and duplicity are the rule rather than just exceptions. Both are inseparable from self-consciousness and humans’ unique concern for reputation. It is linked to face-maintenance (keeping apparent moral self-unity) in the midst of obvious contradictions. Powerful examples abound, such as the fact that Hitler was a vegetarian. We are indeed moral acrobats, and this has its roots in self-consciousness, the pillar of our human nature. Self-conscious psychology leads toward obligatory existential rumination of deeply unsettling existential truths. These truths shape our moral sense, in particular what we feel and construe as right or wrong and what we experience and reason as just or unjust.Less
Moral hypocrisy and duplicity are the rule rather than just exceptions. Both are inseparable from self-consciousness and humans’ unique concern for reputation. It is linked to face-maintenance (keeping apparent moral self-unity) in the midst of obvious contradictions. Powerful examples abound, such as the fact that Hitler was a vegetarian. We are indeed moral acrobats, and this has its roots in self-consciousness, the pillar of our human nature. Self-conscious psychology leads toward obligatory existential rumination of deeply unsettling existential truths. These truths shape our moral sense, in particular what we feel and construe as right or wrong and what we experience and reason as just or unjust.
