Politics and Morality

by Susan Mendus, Gareth Schott

Public disenchantment with politics has become a key feature of the world in which we live. In this book, Susan Mendus asks if politicians can be morally good or whether politics is destined to involve dirty hands or the loss of integrity, as many modern philosophers claim.

Genres: Philosophy

130 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2006

About the author

Susan Lesley Mendus, CBE, FBA, FLSW is a Welsh academic specializing in political philosophy. She is Professor Emerita of Political Philosophy at the University of York.

Reviews

[Юра Мельник · Rating 4 out of 5]

Виборці обирають не чесних і високоморальних політиків, а тих, хто може виглядати чесними і високоморальними в очах інших.

[Idoru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, concise and well written. An excellent introduction to the topic.

[Gabz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this book for a university module which related to ethics in international relations and was quite pleasantly impressed with the quality of the work and its accesibility.

The examples are clear and relatable, bringing the theory closer even to the inexperienced reader first picking up a book on this subject. I find that the conclusions for each chapter were also very useful in cementing the lessons of each section.

I appreciated the interpretation of Machiavelli and the flow of the presentation from models of common moral understanding over to the challenges to these models and the rationale behind the challenges.

All in all, a very good book and a very good introduction to the subject of politics and morality.

[Siavash · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was my first reading in this area of ethics, yet I should say that Susan Mendus succeeds in providing a fluid line of thought with various historical examples and hallmark quotations. This book introduced a lot of new ideas to my mind (although I picked up the book for exactly this reason).