The Decent Society

by Avishai Margalit and Avišaj Margalit

Book Overview

Avishai 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.

Most of the philosophical attention nowadays is drawn to the ideal of the just society...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674194373
• ISBN13: 9780674194373
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 318 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

ABC of Decency

Social inequalities and injustice are attributed to a bad society and everybody invariably nods in agreement that the society is at fault. One gets an impression that all are talking about an invisible entity that is at fault. Who or what is this society? Avishai Margalit, a brilliant philosopher, explains how society comes in to being in the first place and who is responsible for it. His answers for a decent society are easy to understand and his approach is pragmatic. He propagates that it is easier to ask people not to be bad to others than to ask people to be good; because being good is a matter of personal selective perception. He discusses in detail what the people in the institutions of a State should not be doing to their fellow citizens and why. We use expressions such as humiliation, insult, Welfare State and many others, in our daily life. After reading the explanations of the author one gets an impression of having learned them for the first time. What I particularly like in his arguments is: „...there is a weighty asymmetry between eradicating evil and promoting good. It is much more urgent to remove painful evils than to promote enjoyable benefits. " Recently as CEO of a multinational company with operations in five different countries, I enjoyed good results applying some of his concepts in personnel management. This book though not for light reading and is also a philosophical one, yet the insights from the author can be very useful wherever human relationships and decent treatment for all in a company, society or a nation are an issue. I think the most important service that this book could render to humanity is: if this book was made an obligatory study for politicians and leaders of our world. What Mr. Margalit is saying is not Utopia, it is valid for an individual State and its treatment of its citizens but I find it is as easily applicable to relationships between different States. This book does not seek to set guidelines for harmonious international relationships amongst different countries but would certainly show many what they should not do to others. For this reason this book should be given to the most powerful leaders and to the politicians in more unfortunate economies as well.

Humiliation, Rights and Honor: What is a decent society?

Have you ever pondered the question, What is a decent society? Does the thought keep you awake at night, wondering, is the society in which I live decent?, and if not, do we sincerely ask oursleves, for example, am I decent anyway? and if not, and so on, do I need to do anything to change that situation?In this book, Avishai Margalit explains how he constructed his moral philosophy based on the following: a decent society or civilized society is one in which the institutions of that society do not humiliate people who are subject to their authority, and in which no citizen humilates another citizen or themselves. Avishai Margalit goes on to argue that what is more important is not a "just society" but a "decent society", based on the equilibrium between liberty and equality, a society where cruelty and humiliation has been completely erradicated.This books influence should reach far beyond the confined bounds of formal philosphical debate and should be championed - or at least taken very seriously - by all decent and prospective politicians everywhere. Not since Rousseau himself has anyone approached the subject with such intelligence and passion as has Avishai Margalit. Reading this book, was for me, like living a really extraordinary experience, as I sure it will be for you.regards,martyn_jones@iniciativas.com