1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910426046103321

Autore

Sassower Raphael

Titolo

The specter of hypocrisy : testing the limits of moral discourse / / Raphael Sassower

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham, Switzerland : , : Palgrave Macmillan, , [2020]

©2020

ISBN

3-030-60573-6

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XVIII, 238 p. 6 illus.)

Disciplina

155.92

Soggetti

Hypocrisy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Chapter 1: Degrees of Truth -- Chapter 2: The Tension between Greek Masks and Hebrew Chameleons -- Chapter 3: (Philosopher-) Kings and Queens on Stage -- Chapter 4: In Search of the Self -- Chapter 5: Misrecognition and Passing -- Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

“Raphael Sassower’s timely reflection on the manifold complexity of hypocrisy could not be more necessary. His consideration of the implication of falsehoods across multiple registers of life is required reading.” —Michael E. Sawyer, Colorado College, USA, and author of Black Minded: The Political Philosophy of Malcolm X (2020) “In our age of 'phony news' and of the 'post-factual’, Raphael Sassower's new intervention takes on the notion of hypocrisy to not only challenge the current political scene, but more importantly and with more long-lasting reverberations, to challenges the very borders of moral philosophy.” —Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Director of the Pembroke Center and Professor of Italian Studies and Comparative Literature, Brown University, USA “An intellectual celebration. Sassower’s mastery and depth of research into psychological, psychoanalytic, social, moral, philosophical, and religious theories of hypocrisy is breath-taking. The book is a must-read.” —Nathaniel Laor, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Philosophy, Tel Aviv University, Israel, and Clinical Professor in the Child Study Center, Yale University, USA Raphael Sassower examines the concept of hypocrisy for its strategic potential as a means of personal protection and social cohesion. Given the



contemporary context of post-truth, the examination of degrees or kinds of hypocrisy moves from the Greek etymology of masks worn on the theater stage to the Hebrew etymology of the color adjustment of chameleons to their environment. Canonical presuppositions about the uniformity of the mind and the relation between intention and behavior that warrant the charge of hypocrisy are critically reconsidered in order to appreciate both inherent inconsistencies in personal conduct and the different contexts where the hypocrisy appears. Sassower considers the limits of analytic moral and political discourses that at times overlook the conditions under which putative hypocritical behavior is existentially required and where compromises yield positive results. When used among friends, the charge of hypocrisy is a useful tool with which to build trust and communities.