Discussion Thread: Ethics in Public Administration — Case Study

The Uses of Literature in the Exploration of Public Administration Ethics: The Example of Antigone

Author(s): Frank Marini

Source: Public Administration Review , Sep. - Oct., 1992, Vol. 52, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 1992), pp. 420-426

Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Society for Public Administration

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The Uses of literture in the

Explorafon of Public

Administraion Etics

The Example of Antige

Frank Marini, The University of Akron

What can public administrators learn from studying

Sophocles'Antigone? A great deal, argues Frank

Marini, who regards the ancient Greek play as afruitful

source of opportunities to reflect upon the ethical chal-

lenges facing modern public administrators. The play

is often used in schools to generate discussions about

civil disobedience and the implications of challenges to

authority. Marini points to dilemmas facing other roles

in Antigone, each facing issues from ethically "right

positions. " This is especially true of King Creon, who is

challenged to meet his obligation to uphold and enforce

the law despite family ties and personal considerations.

In this and other ways, Antigone and other works are

useful for highlighting and focusing discussions about

the challenges ofpublic ethics.

A variety of approaches to teaching, encouraging, and inculcating public administration ethics has been sug-

gested during the public administration ethics boom of the last two decades or so. I have argued elsewhere that public administration ethics can be usefully approached through literature (Marini, 1991; forthcom- ing).' Significant among the literary works which I have mentioned as useful for exploring issues of public administration ethics is Sophocles' Antigone.2 I wish here to offer an example of such usefulness by dis- cussing Antigone from the point of view of public administration ethics. It seems to me that this play is acutely appropriate for today's public administration audience because it raises many issues of relevance to contemporary public ethics; because it is available in many languages and familiar within many national cul- tures; and because its themes are important to, and capable of appreciation within, many different political and administrative systems.

The Play Recalled Antigone-which has been considered at times the

most perfect work of human art-was first presented about 440 B.C.3 It is useful to remember that the audi- ence in Ancient Greece would have been thoroughly familiar with the "story"; thus the interpretation of prin- cipals, motives, and dilemmas (the "meaning" or "mes- sage" rather than simply the "tale") took on special importance.4

Antigone, her sister Ismene, and her brothers Polyneices and Eteocles, were the children of Oedipus, King of Thebes, and of Jocasta (whom Oedipus married while unaware of the fact that she was his mother). When Oedipus discovered the fact of his incest, and also the fact that a stranger he killed was actually his unknown biological father, he blinded himself and abandoned his kingdom. His sons quarreled and Eteocles banished Polyneices and reigned as king. Polyneices returned with a foreign army and, in the ensuing battle, the brothers killed one another. Creon (the brother of Oedipus' wife/mother and thus the uncle both of Oedipus and Oedipus' children; and, as first cousin of Oedipus' father, a member of the royal blood line in his own right), as the closest male, ascended to the throne. Creon decreed that Eteocles be given a hero's burial; that Polyneices, as punishment for the treason of attacking Thebes with his foreign army, be denied burial; and that anyone providing burial rites for Polyneices be put to death by stoning. The play begins at this point.

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The principal protagonists are Antigone and Creon. Antigone is described by the Chorus as "[tihe violent daughter of a violent father,... [who] cannot bend before a storm of evils," and by Creon as stubborn, self-willed, boasting, exult- ing in insolent defiance of the law, who "caught red-handed, glorifies the crime," and who knowingly and freely chooses a path of damnation (430-451, 764-765). Creon is depicted as a lonely ruler beset upon from every quarter who is unbending, prideful, self-willed, stubborn, rigid, unchanging, and almost impervious to advice (650-672, 950-976, 991, 1025-1027).

Antigone is determined to perform the rites of burial for her brother even though the sentence for doing so is death. She asserts that divine law, tradition, and familial duty demand this of her. She covertly performs the burial ritual, is discov- ered, and is sentenced to death. Though Creon hears argu- ments from several quarters, and though Antigone is his niece and is engaged to his son, he adamantly insists that since Antigone knowingly violated the law she must pay the penal- ty. Neither Antigone nor Creon will budge an inch in their fer- vor, righteousness, and position. As Antigone is being walled up in a cave to starve to death, Creon hears terrible predic- tions and finally fearfully yields. His change of mind is too late, though: Antigone has hanged herself; Creon's son kills himself in grief; and Creon's wife, after hearing of this, kills herself while cursing Creon with her last breath.

The play is probably most commonly used to demonstrate to undergraduate students a striking ancient example of civil disobedience and to introduce them to the possibility and value of standing against all the world's authority on behalf of what one knows in one's heart or conscience to be right.5 Such a perspective is truly valuable and worth serious consid- eration. But from a public administration perspective, some aspects of this view can seem problematic and worth ponder- ing from the vantage point of various responsibilities and soci- etal needs. And while the undergraduates are probably taught the point of the play most frequently from the position of Antigone herself (roughly the ethic of personal conscience; of fealty to tradition and religion and resistance to authority which runs counter to these; of loyalty to family and familial duty; and of following one's own heart, convictions, and feel- ings), it seems necessary for public administration to at least reflect on the question of whether there is anything to be said for Creon's side of the issue.6

Antigone is, of course, a much richer play than a short dis- cussion such as this can convey. Indeed, the fact that it is in such robust survival over 24 centuries after it was written sug- gests that it has issues and wisdom for various situations and times.

Public Administration Ethics andAntigone

I believe Antigone would serve well on every public administrator's short shelf of essential reading and in every public administration curriculum.

The play's conflict may be seen as fundamentally over the separate ethics and responsibilities of various public roles and positions-in short as over public ethics. At the center of the

believe Antigone would serve well on every public

administrator's short sbelfof essential reading and

in everypublic administration curriculum.

play are the ethics stipulated by divine law and gods; the ethics of a society's laws, traditions, customs, institutions, mores, and values; the ethics of conscience; the ethics of oaths and positions of responsibility; the ethics of loyalty, family and friends; the values of "democracy" or the role of popular opin- ion; the role of emotion, dispassionate approaches, and wis- dom; and other forms and conflicts of ethics and authority. The play is preeminently about civic and personal ethics in relation to authority.

The Ethics and Burden of Office It is worth noting that Creon's dilemma is essentially one of

administrative action and discretion; i.e., his actions which provide the basis for the play are not so much questions of "reigning" or of "politics" as they are of "administering" a pub- lic policy and its repercussions. Creon makes his sense of the responsibilities of office clear upon his first appearance:

Elders of Thebes, our city has been tossed By a tempestuous ocean, but the gods Have steadied it once more and made it safe. You, out of all the citizens, I have summoned, Because I knew that you once reverenced The sovereignty of Laius, and that later, When Oedipus was King and when he perished, Your steadfast loyalty upheld his children. And now his sons have fallen, each one stained By his brother's blood, killed by his brother's hand, So that sovereignty devolves on me, Since I by birth am nearest to the dead. Certainly no man can be fully known, Known in his soul, his will, his intellect, Until he is tested and has proved himself In statesmanship. Because a city's ruler, Instead of following the wisest counsel, May through some fear keep silent. Such a man I think contemptible. And one whose friend Has stronger claims upon him than his country, Him I consider worthless. As for me, I swear by Zeus, forever all-beholding, That I would not keep silence, if I saw Ruin instead of safety drawing near us; Nor would I think an enemy of the state Could be my friend. For I remember this: Our country bears us all securely onward, And only while it sails a steady course Is friendship possible. Such are the laws By which I guard the greatness of the city. For never shall the wicked Be given more approval than the just, If I have power to stop it. But whoever Feels in his heart affection for his city Shall be rewarded both in life and death (136-187).

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His sense of the public ethics and authority of office is commensurate with this view: those who hold offices of supreme responsibility must be obeyed; neither blood ties nor friendship should obscure this duty to obey duly-appointed authority; duly-appointed rulers must be obeyed "in every- thing, [little or great, just or unjust"; happiness and safety is found in loyalty and obedience to such authority; "disobedi- ence is the worst of evils," and it ruins cities, "makes homes desolate," breaks up military alliances, and threatens peace, happiness, and safety (580-623).

Nor is Creon's sense of his authority a delusion. That he, as king, legitimately exercises personal authority is made clear throughout the play (47, 503, 816), as is the fact that his decrees and edicts ,have the force of law (7-8, 26-27, 31-32, 703]. As the chorus says at one point: "you may give com- mands to all of us, [tihe living and the dead. Your will is law" (190-192). It may be wondered, though, as has frequently been noted, whether he sometimes sees the authority as too much his personally rather than belonging to the role of king. It can be legitimately asked whether he has come to see him- self as above the law, or even as the law itself.

Public administrators constantly face the need and difficulty of keeping the authority of their official role separate from inap- propriate aspects of their personality and personal circum- stances. The value statement which Creon supplies in his speech to the Elders certainly rings as do most oaths of office- from a public administration point of view, it seems to me, there is little to fault in Creon's statement of values. Yet-also from a public administration point of view-the course Creon travels from these values to his edict, and to the remorseless implementation of the edict, is rich with questions to ponder.

Ethics, Law, and Higher Law As indicated, the drama has to do with the interplay

between various kinds of law, authority, and ethics. If Creon sometimes seems to see himself as above certain notions of law and mores (i.e., as above divine law, customs, traditions, and traditional obligations), certainly Antigone seems also to see herself as above certain notions of law (i.e., as above law or decree promulgated by a ruler when she has reason to believe such is wrong). If Creon feels that he can, should, or must set aside some usual norms because of certain exigencies and in order to protect a system of order, Antigone feels she must set aside such exigencies and order because of higher and more important obligations. The question is not only whether Creon has pridefully, inappropriately, and stubbornly set himself above all that is decent, but also whether Antigone has pridefully, inappropriately, and stubbornly set herself above duly-constituted authority and the need for order.

While Antigone freely admits to Creon that she has know- ingly disobeyed the edict against burying her brother, she con- tends that the ruler's edicts do not have the power of the gods' laws:

Creon: Answer this question. Make your answer brief. You knew there was a law forbidding this?

Antigone: Of course I knew it. Why not? It was public.

Creon: And you have dared to disobey the law?

PUbliC administrator constantlyface the need

and difficulty of keeping the authority of their

official role separatefrom inappropriate aspects

of their personality and personal circumstances. Antigone Yes. For this law was not proclaimed by Zeus, Or by the gods who rule the world below. I do not think your edicts have such power That they can override the laws of heaven, Unwritten and unfailing, laws whose life Belongs not to today or yesterday But to time everlasting; and no man Knows the first moment that they had their being. If I transgressed these laws because I feared The arrogance of man, how to the gods Could I make satisfaction? (403-417, compare also 853)

It is not only divine law which Antigone cites. She refers also to ancient law, custom, tradition, and commonly under- stood decency. The conflict over authority involves contention over the status of various forms of law. Antigone admits knowingly breaking the law (42-75, 401-406). When she explains to her sister, Ismene, that she plans to violate the prohibition against burying Polyneices, the following exchange takes place:

Ismene Antigone! Think!.... ...think how in turn we perish, If, in defiance of the law, we brave The power of the commandment of a king. And so I pray the dead to pardon me If I obey our rulers, since I must. To be too bold in what we do is madness.

Antigone My crime is innocence, for I owe the dead Longer allegiance than I owe the living. With the dead I lie forever. Live, if you choose, Dishonoring the laws the gods have allowed.

Ismene. No, I dishonor nothing. But. to challenge Authority-I have not strength enough.

Antigone But leave me... To undergo the worst that can befall me. I shall not suffer an ignoble death (49-96).

Antigone firmly argues that divine law is on her side. She asks, "What is the law of heaven that I have broken?" (853), and she states that the doom that has come upon her is solely "Because to the laws of heaven I held fast" (876) She states her view of the status, timelessness, and authority of divine law and expresses her view that the king's edicts cannot over- ride divine law (407-417). Yet, at one point, the Chorus indi- cates to Antigone that piety is one thing, but the exigencies of rule are another: "A pious action may of praise be sure,/But he who rules a land cannot endure/An act of disobedience to his rule/Your own self-will you have not learned in school" (803-806).

The dilemmas introduced by law, higher law, divine guid- ance, etc. are not new to public administrators. Some of our

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Obviously, for U.S. public administrators,

the notion of the Constitution as "higher law" and

as having its basis in biggerr law" adds a special

dimension to sucb reflections, Antigone provides

an excellent startingpointforsucb reflections.

early arguments-for example, the Friedrich (1940) and Finer (1941) debate-touch upon such questions, as do our reflec- tion upon the implications of the Nuremberg trials and con- temporary public policy and administration issues such as debates over abortion. In assessing the ethics of public responsibility, we should look critically at postures which hold that "natural" and perhaps even infallible guidance is easily come by (in the sense of "natural law" or in the sense argued at Nuremberg by "our side" that humanity itself proves in one's heart of hearts that certain things are inhuman and unjust regardless of the social or governmental context). Obviously, for U.S. public administrators, the notion of the Constitution as "higher law" and as having its basis in "higher law" adds a special dimension to such reflections. Antigone provides an excellent starting point for such reflections.

Ethics and Conscience Closely related to such questions are the questions of ethics

of personal conscience. The whole play, of course, can be (and frequently is) read as a paean to independent con- science. An easy answer can be (and frequently is) given to Antigone's problem: follow conscience, do what you know is right, do not comply with governmental acts you know to be wrong. This answer is, in important respects, too easy, as reflection upon individuals deciding separately which act to obey and which to disobey will soon suggest.

Before embracing the simplistic notion that personal con- science, if but consulted, will provide a trusty beacon and ral- lying point against institutional, governmental, and societal demands and expectations (which seems often to be the mes- sage attributed to Antigone), one should reflect on the extent to which conscience is a result of socialization (Marini, 1991, forthcoming).

Clearly there is much to be learned about conscience in the play. One can easily be misled by the centrality of the act of conscience on Antigone's part to overlook Creon's acts of con- science. Creon is acutely aware of his official responsibilities. He outlines the responsibilities of office as he sees them upon his first appearance in the play. Although his position is usu- ally characterized as blindly stubborn will rather than con- science, this is probably as fairly said also of Antigone's posi- tion. In fact, the play dramatizes the interplay of one person's conscience with reference points of custom, religion, and familial duty with another person's conscience with reference points of rewarding patriotism and punishing treason, consis- tency in the application of rules, obedience to the law, eschewing favoritism and nepotism, and allegiance to the oath

of office and one's responsibility to tend to the safety and sta- bility of the whole society. The question may not be so much one of conscience or morality but, as Machiavelli was to observe centuries later, of whether personal morality and pub- lic morality are, can be, or should be the same thing.

In thinking through public administrative ethics, it seems to me, we need to be wary of notions that one's conscience will suffice in ethical dilemmas. It cannot be denied that one's conscience can be an essential part of dealing with dilemmas of public ethics. Many of our efforts in professional ethics amount to working and hoping to develop an ability for pro- fessional and personal conscience to grapple with difficult sit- uations and decisions. Yet it is clear that simple faith in sim- ple solutions from infallible conscience is not adequate to our requirements. In public administration, our ethics must be competent to deal with complexities for which a naive trust in conscience would be inadequate.

I believe that reflection will readily show the difficulties of sole reliance upon conscience for reaching ethical conclu- sions.. I believe that, if the field of public administration (especially in its educational and professional apparatus) con- tributes to the notion that professional ethics is essentially a question of consulting one's own conscience, this would be seriously counterproductive in our efforts to develop serious professional ethics.

It is also necessary to grapple with the question of personal ethics as against civic ethics. Does position of authority or the role of citizen demand and grant responsibilities and ethical positions which vary from those demanded in purely personal or familial matters? How do the complexity of administrative context and different roles and perceptions of administration affect ethical concerns? Can one hold positions of authority without getting one's hands dirty? Is it sometimes irresponsi- ble to keep one's hands in pristine condition and damn the civic consequences of doing So?7

Antigone allows the pursuit of such questions, not only from the vantage point of Antigone herself (certainly the most traditional, and probably the most powerful, vantage point), but also from the perspectives of Creon, Haemon, the Chorus, and perhaps the Theban citizenry and even, as leitmotif, Ismene, Polyneices, Eteocles, Eurydice, the seer Tiresias, and the guards.

Ethics and Emotions The Chorus (which, admittedly, fluctuates in views-fre-

quently depending upon which argument the most recent speaker has articulated) also chastises Antigone for having "rushed forward with audacious feet/And dashed yourself against the law's high seat" (789-790). The Chorus on occa- sion interprets Antigone's actions and fate as tied to the tragedy of her father, Oedipus, and to the fact that she is unbending and stubborn as he was. At one point Creon responds to the Chorus that

She was well schooled already In insolence, when she defied the law, And now look at her! Boasting, insolent, Exulting in what she did. And if she triumphs And goes unpunished, I am no man-she 4,.8

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If she were more than niece, if she were closer Than anyone who worships at my altar, She would not even then escape her doom, A dreadful death (436-444).

The role of love, emotion, loyalty, and reason in offering ethical guidance is, of course, continually present in this drama. The Chorus-in characterizing love as bringing an irresistible madness which twists minds, and turns the just to unrighteous ways-breaks down in its own emotions and admits, "But now I too am moved./I cannot keep/Within the bounds of loyalty./I weep/When I behold Antigone, the bride,/ Nearing the room where all at last abide" (i.e., the grave) (732-751). Not only love, but also suffering, as Ismene observes (517-518), gets in the way of the clear use of reason, and "confuses us and clouds our minds."

Another aspect of the dilemmas provided by emotions involves questions of the values of family and friendship (though these could have as readily been dealt with under "higher law," custom, and mores). Antigone appeals over and over again to familial values, and at one point says that she would have set herself against the city for none less than a brother (45, 821-860), and she indicates that to conform to Creon's decree would have brought disgrace upon her family because it would be a violation of duty (37-48). Creon, too, emphasizes (to different ends) familial values (580-588). But he stresses repeatedly that family ties and affection (Antigone is, after all, his niece as well as his son's betrothed) must not be placed above law and justice (441-445, 520-529, 598-610). In his opening speech, Creon also expands this question to the consideration not only of family, but also of friends-and his position is that family and friendship must never be allowed to come above responsibility to country and duty.

In public administration ethics, we may give too slight a treat- ment to issues such as these. Admittedly, we do speak about "nepo- tism" (though our position and our society's position seems to fluctu- ate over time on the issues involved). Probably, we assume that the implications of professional ethics for emotion, passion, familial rela- tionship, and friendship are clear enough to obviate deep or profes- sionally conscious exploration. Perhaps, though, these issues are more critical and conflictal than we assume. Antigone, again, can

be useful in pondering points such as these.

Ethics, Corruption, and Bribery Aside from the factors of passion, affection, etc. as aspects

which may dim the ethical path, one can lose the way also through intentional corruption, bribery, and the like. Creon is elo- quent, though perhaps some would say paranoid, about corrup- tion. He feels that "men! Have often been destroyed by hope of gain" and he suspects virtually everyone of having been bribed to betray their public duty (195-199, 272-290, 960-991). He continu- ally insists that his integrity cannot be bought or coerced.

Corruption and bribery do seem to be elements to which public administration has continuously paid attention and even elements upon which our position seems to have been consistent over time.

Ethics and Consent or Popular Opinion When told by his son Haemon that the whole city is unani-

mous in the belief that Antigone has done no wrong (683), this exchange between Creon and Haemon ensues:

Creon: Does Thebes give orders for the way I rule? Am I to govern by another's judgment?

Haemon: A city that is one man's is no city.

Creon: A city is the king's. That much is sure.

Haemon: You would rule well in a deserted country.

Creon: To quarrel with your father does not shame you?

Haemon: Not when I see you failing to do justice.

Creon: Am I unjust when I respect my crown?

Haemon: Respect it! When you trample down religion? (686-694).

Haemon has here reiterated the position about the gods' law superseding the ruler's edicts, and he has endorsed also the notion that overwhelming popular opinion ought to have authority over a ruler's inclinations. Elsewhere, he tells Creon that, though citizens are frightened to tell him, they say among themselves that Antigone has done no wrong, but rather the honorable thing (633-646, 683-684).

Antigone consistently makes the point that the city's elders unanimously recognize and, except for fear, would publicly admit that she had done no wrong:

...Yet how could I Have won more splendid honor than by giving Due burial to my brother? All men here Would grant me their approval, if their lips Were not sealed up in fear. (456-460) ...all wise men will approve my act (835).

Yet Creon comments that of all Thebans, only Antigone has been openly rebellious (597-598). He resists, until the bitter end, putting aside his edict in deference to popular opinion or the views of those who have access to him. It is a miscon- struction, I think, to say that he does this solely or primarily because of his personal will. He claims throughout to have promulgated the edict in an act of appropriate public respon- sibility and out of a concern for appropriate public considera- tions. He also consistently holds that the authoritative decree should not be set aside for personal concerns or because of unpopularity, and that open defiance of duly promulgated rules cannot be ignored. Any public administrator who has ever asked whether it was better or necessary to be right rather than popular, and who has tried to reflect upon how democracy or consent may differ from popularity, will proba-

bly see the relevance of the issues raised by Antigone.

Administrative Ethics Antigone allows the exploration of ethics in various ways

and also provides the opportunity to explore some of the aspects of order and the role of administrators and administra- tive responsibilities. It is especially useful in this connection to consider carefully Creon's speech upon his first appearance where he identifies his responsibilities as he sees them and the values he believes he is expected to defend (see above). It is useful to reflect upon Creon's determination (or stubborn- ness): there are ample reasons and pressures which might incline another to wash his hands of the dilemma and com- promise; why does not Greon simply give in?

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we should not overlook what can be learned

from Creon'sposition.... He seems agonized over

living with the consequences of his decree. Yet be

is determined that the rule and penalty should

apply to bisfamily as evenly as it would to others.

It is possible to answer this question by simply concluding that Creon is an incorrigibly authoritarian personality who cares only about his own political vanity and his own personal power. Yet, for our purposes, this is far too simple an answer.9 Considerations of questions of public ethics must surely look beyond this. Creon's own words, it is true, are of insecurity over his authority, perhaps his masculinity, and cer- tainly his status relative to women and other "lesser beings." But he speaks also of the need to keep the ship of state afloat, of his sense that all rights and personal considerations are dependent upon predictable public order, and of the fact that relatives and friends should come under the same law and administration as other citizens. In assessing the play-as in assessing public ethics-it is useful to view the issue of per- sonal conscience not only in isolation, but also with regard to the conscience of the responsibilities of institutional roles.

We should not overlook what can be learned from Creon's position. It is not as though Creon is oblivious to ethical con- siderations. He seems agonized over living with the conse- quences of his decree. Yet he is determined that the rule and penalty should apply to his family as evenly as it would to others, and that he will not flinch from the implementation of penalties against knowing violation of a governmental decree duly promulgated.

Creon had reasons for the decree, of course: show that treason will not be countenanced; by example, preserve from threat the ship of state upon which so much depends; and symbolically endorse patriotism while damning treachery by showing that traitors and heroes will not be accorded like treatment.

Of course, Antigone does not give him an easy way out: she will not claim ignorance of the law, but pridefully (Creon says arrogantly) insists that she knowingly violated the law and that it was proper to do so, and she repeatedly states that she willingly accepts the consequences (though this willing- ness wavers at times through fear and rage at the perceived injustice of her death sentence).

It appears that Creon's edict of death for anyone who delivered burial rites to Polyneices was an extreme and regret- table act. At least Creon himself comes finally to view it so. The play's closing line implies guidance to be wise and to be wise sooner rather than later. By further implication: Creon should have been wise enough not to prohibit action demand- ed by custom, tradition, religion, and ideas of honor. Creon finally (too late) yields, recants, tries unsuccessfully to undo his deed, and bemoans his lot (1025-1043, 1120-1175, 1193- 1200), but as the Chorus indicates, "Sir, you have come to learn the right too late" (1201).

Earlier in the play, a messenger emphasized that "(Qif all the evils/Afflicting man, the worst is lack of wisdom" [1174- 1175), and the Chorus emphasizes this in the closing lines of the play: "The crown of happiness is to be wise,/Honor the gods, and the gods' edicts prize./They strike down boastful men and men grown bold./Wisdom we learn at last, when we are old." The guidance public administrators can gain from this (be wise, do not make mistakes) may be salutary, but does not seem likely to be particularly helpful.

There is another related message: when you have made a mistake, reverse field, cut losses, change your mind. That may be well and good. But-once Creon has made his mistake, what are the administrative ethics of dealing with willful dis- obedience to duly promulgated acts of duly authorized actors? Of course, a very interesting question from the public adminis- tration point of view is how to deal with implementation of a decision which has unpleasant (or worse) qualities as it is applied. It cannot be claimed that Antigone provides answers, but the play does provide grist for the mill of those who work with and worry about such questions.

Conclusion Sophocles' play Antigone allows us to see ethical postures

in conflict when various actors, significantly in disagreement about important matters, apparently all appear to be acting upon some firmly held and defensible ethical principles. It allows us a view of the special responsibilities of public office as well as the special responsibilities sometimes felt by dissi- dents. It allows us to consider different kinds of authority and their commensurate ethical dimensions. It allows reflection upon the need of society for reliable order and a process cre- ating and sustaining such order, as well as questions of the role and status of a variety of "higher laws." It permits us to see ethical questions affected by passion, emotion, personality differences, loyalty, and considerations of family and friend- ship. It offers opportunity to reflect upon the role of demo- cratic values in ethics and to reflect on conscience from a variety of vantage points. The interplay of personal con- science, social mores, and authority which permeate the play can be a steady source of opportunities to reflect upon public administration ethics.

The usefulness of the play for pondering public administra- tion ethics, it seems to me, is not the usual focus upon the rightness of conscientious disobedience. It is rather that the play displays various "right positions" and shows dilemmas of public ethics in the murky, intractable ways in which they tend to come in real life.

Frank Marini is professor of public administration and urban studies and professor of political science at The University of Akron. He has served on the faculties and administrations of several universities including The Maxwell School, San Diego State, and California State- Fullerton. For ten years he served as managing editor of Public Administration Review. He was editor of Toward a New Public Administration: The Minnowbrook Perspective (1971).

The Use of Literature in the Exploration of Public Administration Ethics 425

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Notes

1. I draw upon these earlier works when presenting a resume of their argu- ments (obviously) and elsewhere in the present discussion. It should be acknowledged that others have called attention to the uses to which litera- ture could be put in understanding aspects of public administration-for example: Egger (1944, 1959); Holzer, et al. (1979); Kroll (1965, 1981); McCurdy (1973, 1987); and Waldo (1956, 1968)-but these do not seem to have focused centrally upon public administration ethics.

2. The translation used here is that of Banks (1956) and the numbers in parenthesis in my text are citation of lines in this version. Any version of Antigone may be consulted, although translations differ and the number- ing of lines will not necessarily be consistent with citations here.

3. For an account of the importance of Antigone over time, see Steiner (1984); the Athenians presented Sophocles with the government of Samos in appreciation of the first presentation of the play; as Steiner observes, it would take a substantial book simply to list the bibliography of mono- graphic treatments of the play.

4. While I believe it is proper and important to emphasize the contemporary or timeless importance of ancient works, it is important to remember that such treatment does not give the same emphasis as the first audience would to certain central aspects of such works. Among examples of such aspects are: beliefs in the direct role of the gods' intervention in human affairs; and, in the case of Antigone, the wrath of gods with regard to allowing one's family members to go unburied as well as with regard to burying a traitor on home soil and with regard to spilling the blood of family members.

5. Tussman (1989) characterizes Antigone as "inventing civil disobedience." 6. I am aware that it may seem odd, in these days when some are worrying

the issues of political correctness, not only to argue for the importance of a play written by a long dead Western Caucasian male, but also to argue that a play generally understood from the point of view of a heroine (Antigone) can be profitably explored from the vantage point of the male protagonist (Creon). As noted, the usual reading today seems to be one of entire empathy toward Antigone and antipathy toward Creon. This is an understandable perspective, and for many purposes (for example the encouragement of principled civil disobedience) an extremely useful per- spective. My view, though, is that viewing the play from another perspec- tive can be conducive to public administrators' reflection upon issues cen- tral to the field's professional practice and professional ethics. The discussion here may seem "one-sided" in that it has a perspective deliber- ately selected to highlight the issues which I hold to be of relevance to

public administration ethics; from the perspective of the usual reading, of course, my reading may seem perverse as well as one-sided. Jean Anouilh, in his version of Antigone (1958) helped show what things might look like from Creon's perspective; among the critical commentators who may be said to have perceived the play somewhat from Creon's perspec- tive was Hegel (Steiner, 1984).

7. This is, of course, the question posed by Sartre (1989) and turned into something of a classic for public ethics by Walzer (1973).

8. This question of "manhood" and Creon's anxiety that he will be womanly while Antigone will be manly is exhibited several times. The play has at least a leitmotif on the "feminine issue" which is very interesting. Not only Creon's steady concern about perceived feminine threats to man- hood, but also the dialogue between Antigone and Ismene about the sta- tus of women, various equations of women with slaves, and other state- ments of possible interest from a feminist position appear. (see, for example, lines 6-67, 77-78, 480, 531-534, 622-624, 706, and 774-780). I say that the "feminine issue" is at least a leitmotif because (as with so many other issues of Antigone) the degree of centrality of the motif depends upon the perception of the reader or audience. Compare Elshtain (1982, 1989) and the works cited there.

9. As Steiner (1984, p. 39) observes: 'If Creon was only or essentially a tyrant, he would not be worthy of Antigone's challenge, he would not, in Heidegger's transcription, be authentically 'questionable'....If he did not incarnate an ethical principle, his defeat would possess neither tragic qual- ity nor constructive sense." See also Steiner (1984, p. 37).

10. There is irony in the situation of Antigone's death. Creon does flinch from the death penalty stipulated by his edict. Rather than having her stoned as stipulated in the edict, he has a stone moved to seal her into a cave with scant water and food. This seems an attempt on Creon's part to wash his hands of any guilt which might accompany Antigone's death by claiming to leave her death in the hands of the gods. (He says, in effect, that her life or death will be in the hands of the gods-or rather in the hands of Hades, the god of the underworld, whom he asserts is the only god Antigone worships.) Antigone, of course, does not die passively by stoning at the hands of others nor by starving due to the nonintervention of deities, but actively (perhaps some would say proactively) by hanging herself. This suicide, combined with that of Creon's wife and son on the same day, seems to inflict Creon with threefold the guilt he finally sought to evade.

References

Anouilh, Jean, 1958. "Antigone." In Anouilh, Volume I. Five Plays. New York: Hill and Wang, pp. 1-53. (Anouilh's Antigone was first produced in 1944.)

Egger, Rowland, 1944. "Fable for Wise Men." Public Administration Review, vol. 4 (Autumn), pp. 371-376. ,__ 1959. "The Administrative Novel." American Political Science

Review, vol. 53 (June), pp. 448-455. Elshtain, Jean Bethke, 1982. "Antigone's Daughters." Democracy, (April) pp.

46-59. ,1989. "Antigone's Daughters Reconsidered: Continuing

Reflections on Women, Politics, and Power." In Stephen K. White, ed., Life-World and Politics: Between Modernity and Postmodernity: Essays in Honor of Fred R. Dallmayr. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 222-235.

Finer, Herman, 1941. "Administrative Responsibility in Democratic Government." Public Administration Review, 1 (Sumrffer), pp. 335-350; widely reprinted.

Friedrich, Carl J., 1940. "Public Policy and the Nature of Administrative Responsibility." In Carl J. Friedrich and E. S. Mason eds., Public Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; widely reprinted.

Holzer, Marc, Kenneth Morris, and William Ludwin, eds., 1979. Literature in Bureaucracy: Readings in Administrative Fiction. Wayne, NJ: Avery Publishing Group.

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, 1981. "The Third Dimension: Uses of Fiction in Public Administration." Dialogue: The Public Administration Theoty Network, vol. 3 (March/April), pp. 9-12.

Marini, Frank, 1991. "Literature and Teaching Public Administration Ethics." In Proceedings of the XIV Annual Conference on Teaching Public Administration. Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee ASPA Chapter, pp. 146- 152.

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Sartre, Jean-Paul, 1973. Dirty Hands. In Sartre, No Exit and Three Other Plays. New York: Vintage International.

Sophocles, Antigone, about 440 B.C. In Tbree Tbeban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. Newly Translated by Theodore Howard Banks. New York: Oxford University Press, New York, 1956.

Steiner, George, 1984. Antigones. New York: Oxford University Press. Tussman, Joseph, 1989. The Burden of Office: Agamemnon and Other Losers.

Vancouver: Talonbooks. Waldo, Dwight, 1956. "Perspectives of Literature." In Waldo, Perspectives on

Administration. University, AL: University of Alabama, pp. 77-106. , 1968. The Novelist on Organization & Administration: An

Inquiry Into the Relationship Between Two Worlds. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California.

Walzer, Michael, 1973. "Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands." Philosophy and Public Affairs, vol. 2 (Winter), pp. 160-180.

426 Public Administration Review * September/October 1992, Vol. 52, No. 5

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