Duty Bound

In this timely and enlightening new work, Mark Blitz explores the link between character and politics in liberal democracies, focusing on the importance of responsibility in American public and professional life. He begins by analyzing the place of responsibility in politics, tackling contemporary questions with an eye toward foreign policy and the workings of bureaucracies. Turning to the ways in which responsibility functions in the professions, Blitz critically examines the link between responsible character and the conditions for success in law, journalism, education, and philanthropy. Paying particular attention to biotechnology, Blitz explores responsibility's future and limits in a field fraught with theoretical and practical controversy. Finally, Blitz places liberalism and responsibility in a philosophical context through a thoughtful discussion of John Locke's philosophy. As the nation hotly debates the role of values and character, Duty Bound is a timely look at the importance of one of America's classic civic virtues.

A brilliant and original essay on virtue today. Our earnest responsibility may lack splendor, but Mark Blitz makes a dull thing fascinating., Mark Blitz has written a beautifully crafted study of liberal ethics which can intellectually and politically provoke the specialist in political philosophy, the policy maker reflecting on responsible individual political action, and the general reader interested in the problem of freedom and responsibility in American Public life., Duty Bound is replete with arresting insights and makes an argument that is an important one in our current political environment, where wrangles over an unpopular foreign war and nominations to the Supreme Court, among other things, not infrequently seem to reach new heights of partisan irresponsibility., Recommendeddddd, This book is a useful contribution to the discussions of political ethics and the nature of political action within a liberal democracy. The book's style is highly accessible to novices and professionals and both will come away from their encounter with a sense of a deeper understanding of the questions and concerns.

Mark Blitz is Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College.