http://www.dissentmagazine.org/wwwboard/salon.html

I know that I have recently been posting quite a few links to the list - let
me recommend this one very, very strongly.  Michael Walzer is _the_
preeminent living thinker on ethics and international relations.  His only
real competitor for that slot is Stanley Hoffmann, and even I think Walzer
is (a little) more important than Stanley in that field.  Like Stanley, he
comes very much from the left.  I would admit that I can't think of a really
important (living) right-wing thinker on ethics and IR.

My own bias with regards to Michael Walzer should be noted a little bit - he
and Hoffmann are close friends, and Hoffmann introduced me to Prof. Walzer,
which I consider one of the great honors of my life.  He was extremely kind
to me, but we spoke only briefly, and that just confirmed the impression of
him that I had built from his writings.  So I think I'm not _personally_
inclined to view him more favorably than his genuinely awe-inspiring work
would require.

Anyways, for the first time ever in reading a Walzer piece, I agree with
everything he wrote, which (all by itself) was enough to cause me a great
deal of surprise.  But it also touches on several of our recent discussions,
so I thought it a good idea to post about it.

Gautam

Reply via email to