Can our Hands Stay Clean?

Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 22 (4):925-940 (2019)
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Abstract

This paper argues that the dirty hands literature has overlooked a crucial distinction in neglecting to discuss explicitly the issue of, what I call, symmetry. This is the question of whether, once we are confronted with a dirty hands situation, we could emerge with our hands clean depending on the action we choose. A position that argues that we can keep our hands clean I call “asymmetrical” and one that says that we will get our hands dirty no matter what we do I call “symmetrical”. Not acknowledging this distinction is a problem because, firstly, it adds to the existing confusions about how best to define what dirty hands are. Secondly, it prevents the concept of dirty hands from being applied properly to other contexts such as, for example, the responsibility and accountability of politicians. I argue that we have good reason to favour a symmetrical understanding because it gives a more convincing account of what makes an action dirty and because it more accurately captures our complex moral decision-making when faced with dirty hands situations. The paper concludes by outlining possible implications that the distinction between the symmetry view and the asymmetry view has on wider debates surrounding the problem of dirty hands.

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Christina Nick
University of Leeds

References found in this work

Plural and conflicting values.Michael Stocker - 1989 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The Prince.Niccolò Machiavelli - 1640 - New York: Humanity Books. Edited by W. K. Marriott.
Political action: The problem of dirty hands.Michael Walzer - 1973 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 2 (2):160-180.
Innocence and experience.Stuart Hampshire - 1989 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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