Avishai Margalit Boeken

Draws on the resources of millennia of Western philosophy and religion to provide us with healing ideas that will engage all of us who care about the nature of our relations to others.

The book explores the lasting impact of Edward Said's groundbreaking work on Orientalism, examining how his ideas have shaped contemporary views on cultural representation and colonialism. It delves into the complexities of East-West relations and the implications of Said's theories in various fields, including literature, politics, and postcolonial studies. Through critical analysis, the text highlights the relevance of Said's insights in understanding modern global dynamics and cultural interactions.

A searching examination of the moral limits of political compromise When is political compromise acceptable--and when is it fundamentally rotten, something we should never accept, come what may? What if a rotten compromise is politically necessary? Compromise is a great political virtue, especially for the sake of peace. But, as Avishai Margalit argues, there are moral limits to acceptable compromise even for peace. But just what are those limits? At what point does peace secured with compromise become unjust? Focusing attention on vitally important questions that have received surprisingly little attention, Margalit argues that we should be concerned not only with what makes a just war, but also with what kind of compromise allows for a just peace. Examining a wide range of examples, including the Munich Agreement, the Yalta Conference, and Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, Margalit provides a searching examination of the nature of political compromise in its various forms. Combining philosophy, politics, and history, and written in a vivid and accessible style, On Compromise and Rotten Compromises is full of surprising new insights about war, peace, justice, and sectarianism.

Adultery, treason, and apostasy no longer carry the weight they once did. Yet we constantly see and hear stories of betrayal, and many people have personally experienced a destructive breach of loyalty. Avishai Margalit argues that the tension between the ubiquity of betrayal and the loosening of its hold is a sign of the strain between ethics and morality, between thick and thin human relations. On Betrayal offers a philosophical account of thick human relations--relationships with friends, family, and core communities--through their pathology, betrayal. Judgments of betrayal often shift unreliably . A whistle-blower to some is a backstabber to others; a traitor to one side is a hero to the other. Yet the notion of what it means to betray is remarkably consistent across cultures and eras. Betrayal undermines thick trust, dissolving the glue that holds our most meaningful relationships together. Recently, public attention has lingered on trust between strangers--on relations that play a central role in the globalized economy. These, according to Margalit, are guided by morality. On Betrayal is about ethics: what we owe to the people and groups that give us our sense of belonging. Margalit's clear-sighted account draws on literary, historical, and personal sources, including stories from his childhood during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Through its discussion of betrayal, it examines what our thick relationships are and should be and revives the long-discarded notion of fraternity.

Der Kompromiß ist ein unverzichtbares politisches Mittel, besonders in Fragen von Krieg und Frieden. Dennoch gibt es moralische Grenzen für Kompromisse. Wenn diese überschritten werden, wird der Kompromiß selbst fragwürdig und kann den Frieden, den er geschaffen hat, kontaminieren. Der renommierte israelische Philosoph Avishai Margalit untersucht in seinem neuen Werk, welche Grenzen dies sind und ab wann ein Kompromißfrieden ungerecht wird. Während der Begriff des gerechten Krieges weit diskutiert ist, bleibt die Frage nach einem gerechten Frieden oft unbeachtet. Zudem wurde dem Kompromiß als politisches Konzept bisher wenig theoretische Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Margalit analysiert historische Beispiele wie das Münchener Abkommen, die Konferenz von Jalta und die israelisch-palästinensischen Friedensverhandlungen, um das Konzept des politischen Kompromisses umfassend zu beleuchten. Dabei wird die Annahme erschüttert, dass Frieden immer die richtige Lösung ist, unabhängig vom Preis. Durch eine anspruchsvolle Kombination aus philosophischer Analyse, historischer Betrachtung und politischer Urteilskraft erhellt Margalit die Logik des Kompromisses und bietet überraschende Einsichten über Krieg, Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und Fanatismus. Ein elegantes und bedeutendes Werk.

Hace un cuarto de siglo, Orientalismo, el libro de Edward Said, identific con nitidez las fantasas denigrantes de Oriente que existan en la mentalidad colonial, con lo cual prendi la chispa de un debate que an prosigue. Ahora bien: Y qu hay de los muchos modos en que Occidente es visto a ojos de quienes se proclaman sus enemigos? Esas percepciones no han tenido un examen detenido hasta la fecha. Occidentalismo es una investigacin pionera sobre los estereotipos hostiles del mundo occidental que alimentan el odio situado en el fondo de movimientos tales como Al Qaeda. Buruma y Margalit sostienen que aun cuando el virus anti-occidental ha encontrado un husped bien dispuesto en determinadas partes del mundo islmico, y que tiene en realidad sus orgenes en el propio Occidente. Occidentalismo demuestra que los jvenes yihaides persiguen los mismos ideales (revolucin heroica, ilustracin espiritual, autenticidad moral) que han caracterizado la rebelin en el mundo entero a lo largo de los siglos. Al recorrer la historia del pensamiento revolucionario, desde la Contrarreforma en Europa y las diversas variedades del fascismo en Oriente y Occidente, pasando por el actual extremismo anti-capitalista y religioso, este libro viene a demostrar que los terroristas suicidas de hoy y los partidarios de la guerra santa no padecen una patologa nica, sino que hallan su combustible y su motor en ideas que tienen una historia propia.