Ruthlessness in Public Life

Ruthlessness in Public Life

Introduction

The issues discussed by Thomas Nagel in 'Ruthlessness in public life "is the continuities and discontinuities that exist between public and private morality. Public officials need to recognize that there are clear limitations on the actions that conflict with the concerns of the moral. Nagel explored how public and private sectors must adhere to certain common moral standards.

To correct these problems of moral interpreted, Nagel explores some options. Nagel states that "if one assumes a public function, he / she agrees to certain obligations, certain restrictions and limitations on what he / she accepts" This statement incurs public officials have the independent authority on public perhaps played by personal interests. One plausible theory is to avoid the impersonal forces created by the institutions. The next option recognizes the discontinuity between individual mortality and the mortality public, which will provide either an addition or restriction in various institutions. Nagel stated that in his view is that morality should be based on acceptance of each person responsible for the actions and the institution does not have any or all responsible parties.

By Nagel's conclusion is that the theory of the obligation can explain the special characteristics of public morality. Also people can take steps to restrict certain options.

Options Considered by Author

Nagel carried his work forward and presented it more systematically in a trio of very important books: The View from Nowhere, Equality and Partiality, and The Last Word. Running throughout these works are two main themes: First, Nagel believes that it is instructive to regard most of the central problems of philosophy as arising because of the conflict between the subjective and the objective points of view. Nagel explores such conflicts in ethics, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and epistemology in The View from Nowhere; he extends this discussion to political philosophy in Equality and Partiality. Second, Nagel is a realist, both about ethics and about metaphysics, and he is a rationalist, too: He thinks that it is reason's task to understand the basic principles of this physical, mental, and moral reality. Nagel is no friend of the various forms of idealism that are found in certain philosophical circles, whether it be of a Kantian or a positivist bent, but he is especially critical of the relativism that pervades much of popular culture.

Over the years, Nagel also worked on an account of the meaning and value of life ...