“Loyalty saves us from the self-advantaging compromising of important relations - such as friendship, marital and professional commitments, group memberships, and so on. But as the Aristotelians would put it, its expression requires phronesis - wisdom not to allow it to compromise other important virtues ,there is something to the ancient doctrine of the unity of the virtues. I believe that is true of all virtues, but especially of the executive virtues - such as industriousness, sincerity, conscientiousness, and courage - which may become detached from substantive goods.” BelieveImportantI BelieveVirtueCommitmentRelationUnityAncientLoyaltyCompromiseSincerity Author:John Kleinig
“One of the real dangers of loyalty is that it may become associated with certain types of group-think, chauvinism, jingoism, and thus become socially destructive in ways that many other virtues are not likely to be when they are corrupted. Nationalism and patriotism are especially prone to misguided excess.” RealVirtueDangerLoyaltyNationalismChauvinism Author:John Kleinig
“My view of ethics and of its priority is connected to my view that we are fundamentally relational beings - both the product of human interactions, as well as committed as part of the expression of our own humanity to various social involvements. I see ethics as having two places in the maintenance of these relational activities - first as providing the basic coinage of our interactions qua humans and second as mediating the various roles we assume as humans.” HumanityEthicsAssumingCommittedVariousPrioritiesInvolvement Author:John Kleinig
“I see ethical considerations as having a certain priority in our interactions - passing judgment on our political and legal processes.” PoliticalJudgmentPrioritiesConsiderationEthical Author:John Kleinig
“I know I always say my occupation is not dancing, but dancing is in my heart, dancing makes me feel good.” KnowsFeelsHeartMy HeartDancingFeel GoodOccupation Author:Lil' Kim
“Police have both extra constraints and extra permissions - on the one hand, they can't dodge involvement in social disorder as the rest of us can and they may be required to conduct themselves privately in a way that does not undermine their public authority; on the other hand, they have permission to engage in deceptions, invasions of privacy and uses of force that are forbidden to the rest of us. But this does not put them beyond common morality.” CommonMoralityAuthorityPoliceDeceptionExtrasPrivacyForbiddenInvolvement Author:John Kleinig
“What we have to ask is this: what can we morally expect of and allow to people whom we deploy to fulfill this or that social role :police officer, school teacher, physician? This may sometimes lead to difficult social decisions - e.g. should police be permitted to illegally import drugs as part of a sting operation? In the end, I think "common - that is, critical - morality" should determine the limits of the police role.” PeopleThinkingSometimesSchoolDifficultDecisionCommonTeacherMoralityDrugPoliceDeterminePolice Officer Author:John Kleinig
“There will always be situations in which conflicts arise between individual and communal values - Catholic police officers deployed to enable women to enter abortion clinics without harassment and doctors who oppose performing abortions. No social role is free of such potential conflicts.” ValuesIndividualSituationConflictPoliceCatholicPerformingAbortionDoctor WhoPolice OfficerHarassment Author:John Kleinig
“Structurally I don't see a fundamental difference between what we may reasonably expect of police and doctors - though obviously the fact that doctors are generally pursuing life-saving activities and police may be engaged in life-threatening activities may lead to differences in how we construe the moral limits to their roles.” MoralPolice Author:John Kleinig
“Police do not work at the immediate direction of the communities they serve, but through their institutional connections. Police departments may develop structures, modi operandi, and cultures that are ethically problematic.” CultureCommunityPolice Author:John Kleinig