POLITICAL HYPOCRISY : THE MASK OF POWER, FROM HOBBES TO ORWELL AND BEYOND
Runciman , David
POLITICAL HYPOCRISY : THE MASK OF POWER, FROM HOBBES TO ORWELL AND BEYOND David Runciman - 1 - New Jersy Princeton University Press 2008/01/01 - 284
What kind of hypocrite should voters choose as their next leader? The question seems utterly cynical. But, as David Runciman suggests, it is actually much more cynical to pretend that politics can ever be completely sincere. Political Hypocrisy is a timely, and timeless, book on the problems of sincerity and truth in politics, and how we can deal with them without slipping into hypocrisy ourselves. Runciman draws on the work of some of the great truth-tellers in modern political thought--Hobbes, Mandeville, Jefferson, Bentham, Sidgwick, and Orwell--and applies his ideas to different kinds of hypocritical politicians from Oliver Cromwell to Hillary Clinton. He argues that we should accept hypocrisy as a fact of politics--the most dangerous form of political hypocrisy is to claim to have a politics without hypocrisy. Featuring a new foreword that takes the story up to Donald Trump, this book examines why, instead of vainly searching for authentic politicians, we should try to distinguish between harmless and harmful hypocrisies and worry only about the most damaging varieties.
Contents: Introduction --
Hobbes and the mask of power --
Mandeville and the virtues of vice --
The American Revolution and the art of sincerity --
Bentham and the utility of fiction --
Victorian democracy and Victorian hypocrisy --
Orwell and the hypocrisy of ideology --
Conclusion: Sincerity and hypocrisy in democratic politics.
9780691192505
Purchased Prism Books,Kadavanthra
Political ethics.
Hypocrisy -- Political aspects.
Political science -- Philosophy.
320.101 / RUN
POLITICAL HYPOCRISY : THE MASK OF POWER, FROM HOBBES TO ORWELL AND BEYOND David Runciman - 1 - New Jersy Princeton University Press 2008/01/01 - 284
What kind of hypocrite should voters choose as their next leader? The question seems utterly cynical. But, as David Runciman suggests, it is actually much more cynical to pretend that politics can ever be completely sincere. Political Hypocrisy is a timely, and timeless, book on the problems of sincerity and truth in politics, and how we can deal with them without slipping into hypocrisy ourselves. Runciman draws on the work of some of the great truth-tellers in modern political thought--Hobbes, Mandeville, Jefferson, Bentham, Sidgwick, and Orwell--and applies his ideas to different kinds of hypocritical politicians from Oliver Cromwell to Hillary Clinton. He argues that we should accept hypocrisy as a fact of politics--the most dangerous form of political hypocrisy is to claim to have a politics without hypocrisy. Featuring a new foreword that takes the story up to Donald Trump, this book examines why, instead of vainly searching for authentic politicians, we should try to distinguish between harmless and harmful hypocrisies and worry only about the most damaging varieties.
Contents: Introduction --
Hobbes and the mask of power --
Mandeville and the virtues of vice --
The American Revolution and the art of sincerity --
Bentham and the utility of fiction --
Victorian democracy and Victorian hypocrisy --
Orwell and the hypocrisy of ideology --
Conclusion: Sincerity and hypocrisy in democratic politics.
9780691192505
Purchased Prism Books,Kadavanthra
Political ethics.
Hypocrisy -- Political aspects.
Political science -- Philosophy.
320.101 / RUN