Bonhoeffer's turn to conspiracy

the "extraordinary situation"

pp. 57-78

in: Petra BROWN, Bonhoeffer, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

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.