Description
Book SynopsisProblems of individual moral choice have always been closely bound up with the larger normative concerns of political theory. There are several reasons for this continuing connection. First, the value conflicts involved in private moral choice often find themselves reproduced on the public stage: for example, states may find it difficult to do right by both justice and mercy in much the same way individuals do. Second, we frequently find conflicts among the values at stake in individual life and public life, such that the moral choice we must make is between private and public goods. Loosely speaking, choices which express these conflicts are what philosophers call moral dilemmas: choices in which no matter what one does one will be forfeiting some important moral good; in which wrongdoing is to some degree inescapable; in which one is (perhaps literally) damned if one does and damned if one doesn''t. The eight essays collected in this volume explore the philosophical problem of moral
Trade ReviewDamned If You Do brings together thoughtful essays on the range of narrative arts—poetry, drama, and the novel, but also television, film, and popular culture—in order to examine the moral dilemmas that confront us. The authors of these essays beautifully illuminate the sometimes inescapable and irresolvable conflicts of the human condition and reflect on the challenges they pose to political life. As a collection, Damned If You Do smartly demonstrates the importance of the narrative arts to the study of politics. -- Natalie Fuehrer Taylor, Skidmore College
Table of ContentsChapter 1 1 Moral Dilemmas and the Narrative Arts Chapter 2 2 The Deadwood Dilemma: Freedom versus Law Chapter 3 3 Political Assassination in Popular Fiction and Political Thought: Trotsky, Arendt, and Stephen King Chapter 4 4 Of Hoplites and Hobbits: Dilemmas of Leadership in Aeschylus' The Suppliants and J. R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Chapter 5 5 Defining Dilemmas Down: The Case of 24 Chapter 6 6 Modes of Moral Reasoning in Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 7 7 The Crisis of Slavery in Harry Potter Chapter 8 8 Responsible Life in Paradise Chapter 9 9 Amoral Dilemmas and the Temptation to Tyranny in A Simple Plan
