Overview

In Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad, Michael Walzer revises and extends the arguments in his influential Spheres of Justice, framing his ideas about justice, social criticism, and national identity in light of the new political world that has arisen in the past three decades. Walzer focuses on two different but interrelated kinds of moral argument: maximalist and minimalist, thick and thin, local and universal. This new edition has a new preface and afterword, written by the author, describing how the reasoning of the book connects with arguments he made in Just and Unjust Wars about the morality of warfare. Walzer's highly literate and fascinating blend of philosophy and historical analysis will appeal not only to those interested in the polemics surrounding Spheres of Justice and Just and Unjust Wars but also to intelligent readers who are more concerned with getting the arguments right.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Walzer
Publisher:   University of Notre Dame Press
Imprint:   University of Notre Dame Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 0.70cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.159kg
ISBN:  

9780268018979

ISBN 10:   0268018979
Pages:   128
Publication Date:   28 February 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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Table of Contents

Reviews

Walzer thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. . . . After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves--based in our histories, identities, and associations--that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. . . .[T]his is a well-argued . . . set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate. --Kirkus Reviews [This] is a moving, eloquent, and at times inspriring meditation on the problem of obligation . . . Walzer writes on some of the most explosive issues of the day in a voice that is always calm and thoughtful. Our culture is thicker because of his presence. --Commonweal First published in 1994, this book was an effort to define my position in the ongoing discussions of distributive justice and social criticism. The effort brought me about as close to philosophical argument as I have ever come. But Thick and Thin is chiefly a political book; I meant to defend a certain kind of left politics focused on equality at home and a liberal and constrained version of self-determination abroad. Home and abroad require different kinds of argument, which I represented with the metaphor of thick and thin--thick or maximalist arguments when we are talking to our fellow citizens, thin and minimalist arguments when we are talking to (or about) the others, citizens of foreign countries. --from the preface to the 2019 edition Michael Walzer crowds a remarkable amount of original thought into 100 pages. His arguments undermind both the Foucauldian claim that internal, reformist social criticism entails complicity with the status quo, and the Kantian-Habermasian claim that social criticsm must proceed from universal moral truth. --Richard Rorty (1931-2007), University of Virginia Thick and Thin is extremely readable, engaging and perceptive, ambitiously drawing into a unified framework a variety of difficult moral and political issues. --Times Literary Supplement

Walzer (The Company of Critics, 1988, etc.) thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. Walzer attempts to set out careful definitions for various terms that have arisen in public moral debate and beefs up the concepts behind his much discussed work. For him, moral reasoning is at its best when done at the thick level, in which the many components of individual and communal decision-making, history, and particularity can be dissected, analyzed, and accounted for. But it is the thin level of moral discourse (where generally recognizable slogans and terms predominate) that most often is the meeting point for intracultural and cross-cultural discussion and debate. Thus, the thin good of ending communism or providing aid to the needy is something that large numbers of people can agree on, but the thick good of making decisions about how to achieve such goals is more difficult. After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves - based in our histories, identities, and associations - that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. Walzer emerges as a critic willing to take his punches, but who finds himself caught in a trap of sound-bite debate and thin sloganeering. Though Walzer could show himself more aware of some issues, especially gender and race, this is a well-argued, if not always energetic, set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate. (Kirkus Reviews)

Walzer thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. . . . After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves--based in our histories, identities, and associations--that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. . . .[T]his is a well-argued . . . set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate. --Kirkus Reviews [This] is a moving, eloquent, and at times inspriring meditation on the problem of obligation . . . Walzer writes on some of the most explosive issues of the day in a voice that is always calm and thoughtful. Our culture is thicker because of his presence. --Commonweal Thick and Thin is extremely readable, engaging and perceptive, ambitiously drawing into a unified framework a variety of difficult moral and political issues. --Times Literary Supplement

[This] is a moving, eloquent, and at times inspriring meditation on the problem of obligation . . . Walzer writes on some of the most explosive issues of the day in a voice that is always calm and thoughtful. Our culture is thicker because of his presence. --Commonweal Walzer thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. . . . After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves--based in our histories, identities, and associations--that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. . . .[T]his is a well-argued . . . set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate. --Kirkus Reviews First published in 1994, this book was an effort to define my position in the ongoing discussions of distributive justice and social criticism. The effort brought me about as close to philosophical argument as I have ever come. But Thick and Thin is chiefly a political book; I meant to defend a certain kind of left politics focused on equality at home and a liberal and constrained version of self-determination abroad. Home and abroad require different kinds of argument, which I represented with the metaphor of thick and thin--thick or maximalist arguments when we are talking to our fellow citizens, thin and minimalist arguments when we are talking to (or about) the others, citizens of foreign countries. --from the preface to the 2019 edition Michael Walzer crowds a remarkable amount of original thought into 100 pages. His arguments undermind both the Foucauldian claim that internal, reformist social criticism entails complicity with the status quo, and the Kantian-Habermasian claim that social criticsm must proceed from universal moral truth. --Richard Rorty (1931-2007), University of Virginia Thick and Thin is extremely readable, engaging and perceptive, ambitiously drawing into a unified framework a variety of difficult moral and political issues. --Times Literary Supplement

[This] is a moving, eloquent, and at times inspriring meditation on the problem of obligation . . . Walzer writes on some of the most explosive issues of the day in a voice that is always calm and thoughtful. Our culture is thicker because of his presence. --Commonweal Walzer thoughtfully answers objections to his many influential volumes of social criticism. . . . After five tight chapters, Walzer posits that we are all made up of several selves--based in our histories, identities, and associations--that we juggle as we confront a world of complex decisions and ambiguous choices. It is among those selves, rather than in a community of eager discussants, that the most profound moral reasoning occurs, a commentary on what Walzer perceives as the current sad state of public discussion and moral debate. . . .[T]his is a well-argued . . . set of carefully wrought ideas on the state of public moral debate. --Kirkus Reviews Thick and Thin is extremely readable, engaging and perceptive, ambitiously drawing into a unified framework a variety of difficult moral and political issues. --Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Michael Walzer is Emeritus Professor of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He is the author of Arguing About War, On Toleration, and Just and Unjust Wars.

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