The Decline of Mercy in Public Life

by Alex Tuckness, John M. Parrish

The virtue of mercy is widely admired, but is now marginalized in contemporary public life. Yet for centuries it held a secure place in western public discourse without implying a necessary contradiction with justice. Alex Tuckness and John M. Parrish ask how and why this changed. Examining Christian and non-Christian ancient traditions, along with Kantian and utilitarian strains of thought, they offer a persuasive account of how our perception of mercy has been transformed by Enlightenment conceptions of impartiality and equality that place justice and mercy in tension. Understanding the logic of this decline, they argue, will make it possible to promote and defend a more robust role for mercy in public life. Their study ranges from Homer to the late Enlightenment and from ancient tragedies to medieval theologies to contemporary philosophical texts, and will be valuable to readers in political philosophy, political theory, and the philosophy of law.

Genres: Philosophy

318 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2014

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex is my brother-in-law and gave me a copy. You can use your own experience with in-laws giving you their work for Christmas to decide whether this predisposed me positively or not. I'm used to academic writing, just not in this field or this form (my field doesn't do books). Given that background, I found it perfectly clear and straightforward to read. Oddly (at first glance), it starts with a tour of mercy outside of the Western tradition. This mind-expanding exercise provides excellent contrast to the bulk of the book: the history of the Western tradition and the relatively narrow definitions that generate the supposed tension between concepts of justice and mercy. This is also a pretty good tour of criminal justice and charity, if one were to pull the thread of al lthe references. The final chapter on finding a place for mercy in modern society is fairly light: there isn't an easy slogan, and much of it is grounded in the complexities of the entire book. It feels like the opening of a conversation, but one that will be fairly limited unless someone manages to popularize the ideas.