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(2019) Bonhoeffer, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
This chapter begins to explore the ethical framework that informed Bonhoeffer's decision to become a conspirator. Through a close examination of a central passage in Ethics, written during his time as a double agent in the Abwehr, this chapter shows the emergence of a new idea, the "extraordinary situation" that is based on Machiavelli's necessitá. It is an example of a "borderline case", understood as requiring ethical decisions apart from appealing to intrinsic laws that enable discernment of right action. There emerges a tension between the agent who breaks the law in order to affirm the law but has no basis for doing so that is understandable within the context of the law.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-05698-8_4
Full citation:
Brown, P. (2019). Bonhoeffer's turn to conspiracy: the "extraordinary situation", in Bonhoeffer, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 57-78.
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