Everyone is exposed to manipulation daily, and everyone manipulates too. The impact of manipulations in personal, social, and political life is enormous. Is this tragic? Is it avoidable? Is it always morally bad or regrettable? To answer these questions, we need a theory of manipulation. This book is the first comprehensive philosophical theory of manipulation. Shlomo Cohen offers a new theory on what manipulation is, distinguishing it from other kinds of influence, and assesses the basic moral status of manipulation. In contrast to prevailing views, he argues that manipulation, though often morally bad, is not inherently morally bad, and that alongside its dangers, it has a central role as a 'lubricant' of social frictions which helps to regulate social and political relations. His analysis offers a window to better understanding the ethics of the interplay of reason and power in human relations.

‘While manipulation has received greater attention over the last decade or so from philosophers as well as legal scholars and experts in the decision sciences, book-length treatments remain scarce. Cohen's book lands at the perfect time, and provides a novel philosophical approach to understanding the nature of manipulation as something that evades the traditional philosophical method of conceptual analysis. Cohen provocatively argues that manipulation has up to this point largely received a bad rap, with important implications for the way we live together in political society.'

Moti Gorin - Colorado State University