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Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-100674194365

ISBN-139780674194366

eBay Product ID (ePID)880693

Product Key Features

Original LanguageHebrew

Book TitleDecent Society

Number of Pages318 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicEthics & Moral Philosophy, History & Theory, General, Political

Publication Year1996

IllustratorYes

GenreLaw, Political Science, Philosophy

AuthorAvishai Margalit

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight17.3 Oz

Item Length8.2 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN95-042273

Dewey Edition20

TitleLeadingThe

Reviews[This] book explores the concepts of humiliation and respect and characterizes some of the central features of a decent society. What all cases of humiliation share in common, in Margalit's view, is justified feeling that the actions or omissions of another indicate that one is being rejected from the human commonwealth...A highly engaging and original book. The work is sure to be important for scholars with academic interest in the topics of humiliation and self-respect in their own right. It offers timely and challenging corrective to the philosophical community's obsession with the problems of justice. And it will be a stimulating resource for applied political theorists working on a variety of issues of cultural and social policy., Within philosophy much of the current thinking is in reaction to John Rawls' A Theory of Justice , where justice is the principle value to be striven for. In The Decent Society , Avishai Margalit, Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, offers an equally wide-ranging analysis which would see decency as the primary goal...It is clear that to live by the story he tells would in itself transform our own society in ways likely to be recognized, and approved of, by many of the public house and tabloid philosophers. The state would need to adopt much greater responsibility for the condition the unemployed find themselves in; welfare would be in principle preferred to charity as a way of assisting the needy, but great care would have to be taken in its administration; in general bureaucracy is suspect, even where it is recognized as necessary. To tell the story of a decent society, appealing to the honour of your hearers, in the hope of motivating people to bring its realization about in the way that argument alone could never do, is the central goal of this challenging work., Within philosophy much of the current thinking is in reaction to John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, where justice is the principle value to be striven for. In The Decent Society, Avishai Margalit, Professor of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, offers an equally wide-ranging analysis which would see decency as the primary goal...It is clear that to live by the story he tells would in itself transform our own society in ways likely to be recognized, and approved of, by many of the public house and tabloid philosophers. The state would need to adopt much greater responsibility for the condition the unemployed find themselves in; welfare would be in principle preferred to charity as a way of assisting the needy, but great care would have to be taken in its administration; in general bureaucracy is suspect, even where it is recognized as necessary. To tell the story of a decent society, appealing to the honour of your hearers, in the hope of motivating people to bring its realization about in the way that argument alone could never do, is the central goal of this challenging work., Margalit provocatively inquires whether a just society is also a decent society...[His] lucid exploration of decency includes insightful discussions of bureaucracy, the welfare state, punishment, and even snobbery...The Decent Society is a serious contribution to moral philosophy., Margalit's book offers a great deal...A decent society would have more books like A Decent Society ., Margalit's discussion of these themes is full of deep psychological insight and philosophical precision. The book is a model of how philosophers, using only a fine attention to distinctions between similar-sounding moral terms, can help to clarify, and by doing so, purify our moral language. It is a noble addition to our understanding of what our political and moral ideals should be and it frees political reflection from the strait-jacket of pure rights talk., Margalit provocatively inquires whether a just society is also a decent society...[His] lucid exploration of decency includes insightful discussions of bureaucracy, the welfare state, punishment, and even snobbery... The Decent Society is a serious contribution to moral philosophy., Arguably the most important book on social justice published since John Rawls's A Theory of Justice 25 years ago...Margalit shows that decency is a strong moral concept in its own right. A decent society strives to eliminate the institutional humiliation of its members, which robs them of their self-respect or control over their lives., A splendid book. It is serious without being ponderous, it is unassuming but ambitious, and it is engagingly unorthodox, both in its concerns and in the way it pursues them. At a time when the idea of decency appears in politics only in the mouths of politicians eager to keep sex off the Internet, it is a pleasure to come across an intelligent discussion of a much more serious subject, one that has had little attention from philosophers--how to build a society that doesn't humiliate its weaker members., The Decent Society presents arguments in the rigorous style of British analytical philosophy about why no one should be humiliated. In an ideal world, we seek justice; in this world, we can realize decency, and the welfare state can help us to do so. To save the welfare state, we need to be reminded why we created one, which Margalit effectively does.

Dewey Decimal320/.01/1

Table Of ContentPreface Introduction The Concept of Humiliation Humiliation Rights Honor The Grounds of Respect Justifying Respect The Skeptical Solution Being Beastly to Humans Decency as a Social Concept The Paradox of Humiliation Rejection Citizenship Culture Putting Social Institutions to the Test Snobbery Privacy Bureaucracy The Welfare Society Unemployment Punishment Conclusion Notes Index

SynopsisAvishai Margalit builds his social philosophy on this foundation: a decent society, or a civilized society, is one whose institutions do not humiliate the people under their authority, and whose citizens do not humiliate one another. What political philosophy needs urgently is a way that will permit us to live together without humiliation and with dignity.

LC Classification NumberJC336.M35 1996