by ROGER POL-DROIT
Rhetorical outrage and new codes of ethics have followed revelations that France’s Budget Minister had a secret Swiss bank account. But there may be other, more subtle lessons to learn.
Let’s leave aside the public shock and all the talk of political earthquakes and outrage stemming from the case of Jerome Cahuzac, the now former French Budget Minister who finally admitted last week — after four months of vehement denials — that he’d stashed money in Swiss bank accounts.
How the whole affair looks to me, as a philosopher, is that at the very heart of the affair, two antique notions majestically preside, a huge Janus-like statue of “Truth” and “Lies,” surrounded by all the accompanying moral judgments of rigor, the glorifying of honesty and vilification of all of that which deceives.
Of course, no one can deny the situation is grave, that the discredit cast upon the political class is deep and troublesome. Still, we should not slide into simplification. The republican ethic does indeed need some magic potion, but imparting moralizing lessons is obviously not the solution. Moreover, the whole affair, from the lie, stubbornly maintained, to the final confession, under the pressure of facts, may actually be edifying and pedagogic. Point by point, the most classic definitions are indeed illustrated.
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