Fait accompli

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In French, Fait accompli (literal translation: accomplished fact) is used only in the expression "placer/mettre quelqu'un devant le fait accompli" meaning to present somebody with a fait accompli.

Ethical

The original French usage points to its more correct use in English, which is complex, and thus requires this imported word to describe the concept quickly and easily. Fait accompli describes, for example, someone agreeing to sell something, then handing it over, broken. The breakage is a violation of the sales contract, and handing the item over as a done deal is evading responsibility for the breakage. Another example of Fait accompli's power to describe ethics in the face of unethical behaviour is to apply it to the argument against nuclear weapons disarmament. The legend of the "genie" and its "bottle" is often invoked by nuke advocates in this context, as a magical force of nature that cannot be stopped; nuclear weapons are known about, already, so we are stuck with them. This denies the possibility of enforcement of the disarmament, in the same way as proliferation is enforced.

"Performed without going through standard procedure" is a definition that points to the irregularity associated with a fait accompli

Unethical

The problem with some usage of the term is that it prefers the opposite approach to the French understanding of responsibility in the matter, and describes fait accompli in the same way as our broken-item-seller would: you are stuck with it. This has great appeal, of course, to unethical people.

This definition is phrased as: an 'established fact', rather than the 'accomplished fact' of the French, in order to, well, establish it. It is now established, normative, and no longer to be debated, already. "Go away and stop bothering me with your ethics."

It is often said to be irreversible, or something that has already happened and is therefore unlikely to be reversed; "we can't do anything about it anyway, so don't slap a big fine on my greedy arse".

Moot

Moot is a related term. The meaning of Moot has been completely reversed by American lawyers, much to the detriment of ethical discourse. Don't let this happen to fait accompli. The current dominant use of moot is dismissive; it pushes the idea that something is no longer to be discussed, as in the previous, "go away and stop bothering me with your ethics." It used to mean, "worthy of discussion", as a nod to the ancient 'moot' describing a tribal meeting where matters of consequence would be discussed.

See Also

• Moot
• Wikipedia:faute de mieux

Pronunciation

• ˈfeɪt.əˌkÊŒm.pli, "feIt.@%kVm.pli

Translations

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 既成事實, 既成事实 jìchéng shìshí

• Dutch: voldongen feit
• Finnish: tapahtunut tosiasia
• Icelandic: orðinn hlutur, búið og gert
• Spanish: hecho consumado

External links

• Wikipedia:Fait accompli just a one-line definition