Is mercy more important than justice?

Since antiquity, mercy has been regarded as a virtue. The power of monarchs was legitimated by their acts of clemency, their mercy demonstrating their divine nature. Yet by the end of the eighteenth century, mercy had become "an injustice committed against society . . . a manifest vice." Mercy was exiled from political life. How did this happen?

In this book, Malcolm Bull analyses and challenges the Enlightenment's rejection of mercy. A society operating on principles of rational self-interest had no place for something so arbitrary and contingent, and having been excluded from Hobbes's theory of the state and Hume's theory of justice, mercy disappeared from the lexicon of political theory. But, Bull argues, these idealised conceptions have proved too limiting. Political realism demands recognition of the foundational role of mercy in society. If we are vulnerable to harm from others, we are in need of their mercy. By restoring the primacy of mercy over justice, we may constrain the powerful and release the agency of the powerless. And if arguments for capitalism are arguments against mercy, might the case for mercy challenge the very basis of our thinking about society and the state?

An important contribution to contemporary political philosophy from an inventive thinker, On Mercy makes a persuasive case for returning this neglected virtue to the heart of political thought.

About the Author
Malcolm Bull is Professor of Art and the History of Ideas at the University of Oxford and a Senior Associate Research Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford. He is the author of books on Vico and Nietzsche.

Reviews
"One of New Statesman's Books of the Year 2019"
"In On Mercy, Malcolm Bull conducts a clever thought experiment on the question of whether mercy might not only be reconciled with justice but could displace it at the center of our political life."---David A. Skeel, Wall Street Journal
"While Bull's book is charmingly erudite . . . it is also an important work of political philosophy."---Joe Humphreys, Irish Times
"Subtle, scholarly, and interesting. . . .in [this] book, mercy becomes a concept that can illuminate our history, our present, and the dilemmas on the horizon."---Chiara Ricciardone, The Philosopher
"Malcolm Bull's On Mercy . . . excavates the virtue of mercy as a means to dethroning the supreme values of our age that have failed us."---Thomas Meaney, New Statesman
"Bull's provocative essay provides fresh insights into some foundational issues in political philosophy and mounts a new and engaging challenge to the dominant justice-centered approaches to politics."---Steven Tudor, Criminal Law and Philosophy
"Bull makes a more far-reaching case, though, than merely to plead for the significance of mercy-considerations to the political arguments of our age. . . . [A] fascinating essay."---Christopher Brooke, Mind
"In short, Bull has given us a fascinating and helpful account of a topic that has been neglected within modern political science. It will repay careful study. And if the going gets difficult, Sunstein's slim volume will provide light relief."---Jonathan Warner, European Legacy



Book Information
ISBN 9780691165332
Author Malcolm Bull
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press