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CHAIR'S STATEMENT FACULTY GRADUATE STUDENTS COLLOQUIUM CALENDAR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM GRADUATE PROGRAM GRADUATE PLACEMENT MASTER SCHEDULE UNDERGRADUATE BULLETIN GRADUATE BULLETIN ACADEMIC CALENDARS USC LIBRARIES CAS COMPUTING & IT USC COMPUTER SERVICES ABOUT COLUMBIA SC RESTRICTED ACCESS: Faculty | Graduate Students Search USC   THIS SITE		COLLOQUIA & CONFERENCES DIRTYING ARISTOTLE'S HANDS? – THE THEORY OF 'MIXED ACTIONS' IN THE NICOMACHEAN ETHICS, III, 1   Karen Margrethe Nielsen Cornell University   February 14, 2005 Monday, 4:00pm-6:00pm BA (Close/Hipp) 436   On the basis of Aristotle's discussion of "mixed actions", scholars have inferred that Aristotle recognizes certain cases of circumstantial constraint where even the decent person must 'do wrong in order to do right' – perform bad and shameful actions which are nevertheless morally justified under the circumstances.   In this talk, I will reexamine the textual basis for this inference, arguing that the case for attributing a theory of 'dirty hands' or 'tragic conflict' to Aristotle is weak. Contrary to what is generally believed, Aristotle's discussion of mixed actions does not commit him to the view that decent people should sometimes get their hands dirty. The decent Aristotelian agent will never perform base acts willingly, and thus will never have reason to feel shame or remorse for what he has done. I contend that Aristotle's analysis of shame in the Ethics and the Rhetorics supports this reading.   Although Aristotle recognizes that our lives can be morally difficult, he does not allow that we must sometimes 'do wrong in order to do right'.
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