Abstract

YANNUZZI, María de los Ángeles. Ethics and Politics in the Democratic Society. CONfines relacion. internaci. ciencia política [online]. 2005, vol.1, n.1, pp.67-84. ISSN 1870-3569.

In this article I argue that the relationship between ethics and politics in modern democracy is tense and dangerous. In particular, it is dangerous because ethics introduces a strong moral relativism. Moreover, in complex societies this connection cannot be sustained in the field of politics. That is, when power enters the ethical dimension it distorts it because the discourse of ethics becomes a way of justifying power. It is this interweaving that causes constant tension between ethics and politics such that there is never a satisfactory resolution. Therefore, I purport that only the implementation of an argumentative logic that starts with the recognition of the precariousness and ambivalence of the relation between ethics and politics can serve as a protection against those distortions. Without this approach there is risk that the spaces of liberty will be limited by the power of the state in the name of ethics.

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