Event: Meaning as Purpose: Shared Understandings and Interpretive Method in Michael Walzer's Conception of Justice
OSU Political Theory Workshop
The OSU Political Theory Workshop is pleased to present:
“Meaning as Purpose: Shared Understandings and Interpretive Method in Michael Walzer's Conception of Justice”
Toby Reiner, Dickinson College
Discussant: Ben McKean, Ohio University
February 7, 12.30pm
Spencer Room (2130 Derby Hall)
Abstract
Political theorists are increasingly preoccupied with questions of method, but tend not to problematize the goods that are the subjects of distributive justice. This articleargues that Michael Walzer’s most distinctive contribution to political theory is to do just that, arguing that goods (and intuitions) are cultural products that need interpreting. I do this by reinterpreting Walzer’s appeal to shared understandings, arguing that what is shared is an understanding of the purpose of particular goods. Walzer does not, as critics have claimed, suggest that there is agreement on distributive principles, nor does he define a good’s meaning by allotting it to a principle of justice. Rather, he asks what the good is for, and then argues that that purpose implies a particular distributive principle. I outline how Walzer does this in the case of medical care, and reconstruct his account of the spheres of money/commodities and of political power to show how they follow the same logic. Walzer’s interpretive method is therefore best understood as what I call ethical anthropology.
Toby Reiner Bio
Toby Reiner is assistant professor of political science at Dickinson College, where he teaches classes on global justice, the ethics of war and of migration, multiculturalism, political ideologies, and environmental justice. Prior to arriving at Dickinson, he received a PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2011. His research interests focus on the history of contemporary political theory in the United States, focusing mostly on democratic socialism and egalitarian liberalism, questions of methodology and ontology, and political activism. He has published inPolitical Research Quarterly, the History of European Ideas, and the Journal of the Philosophy of History, and is currently at work on a book manuscript on Michael Walzer's political thought.
The Political Theory Workshop is a forum for the presentation of new research in all varieties of political theory and political philosophy, including work in the history of political thought; contributions to normative political theory; theoretical engagements with problems in contemporary politics and public policy; and theoretical reflection on fundamental political concepts or phenomena.
Questions? Please contact PTW co-coordinators Inés Valdez and Benjamin McKean.
[pdf] - Some links on this page are to Adobe .pdf files, requiring Adobe Reader. If you need them in a more accessible format please contact Inés Valdez or Benjamin McKean.
