On Betrayal

Avishai Margalit

Published by Harvard University Press 2017

On Betrayal

Avishai Margalit

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674973930

Overview
Contents

About this book

Betrayal seems to have lost its grip on the public consciousness in liberal societies, yet it is all around us, dissolving the thick glue of trust that holds friends, families, and communities together. By focusing on the ethics of betrayal, Avishai Margalit offers a philosophical account of what we owe those who give us our sense of belonging.

Author / Editor information

Margalit Avishai :

Avishai Margalit is Schulman Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former George F. Kennan Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

Reviews

On Betrayal seamlessly combines analytic rigor with personal memoir: its illustrative arguments are drawn from political history and Biblical commentary, from novels and biographies. It presents a lifetime of reflection on philosophic methodology: it is the culmination of Margalit’s attempts to analyze the meaning and normative force of betrayal as an essentially contested concept.
-- Amélie Rorty, Tufts University

This book is written in the analytic style, but in Margalit’s own version of that style, which is wonderfully engaging. Margalit possesses what Keats called ‘negative capability.’ His discussion is provocative and illuminating, without reaching for any kind of irritable certainty. This allows Margalit to connect all the forms of betrayal and to explore their various versions, across many centuries and many cultures.
-- Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study

On Betrayal is a continuous exercise in locating the subtleties within our considered moral judgment…Witty and wise, precise and profound, On Betrayal is an easy but deep read: it sees life as it really is with all its turmoil.
-- Dennis O’Brien Christian Century

The range of Margalit’s examples is astonishing…Margalit is a connoisseur of thick relations. That doesn’t mean that he loves or admires every community. He isn’t, in fact, a communitarian, but he is much more knowledgeable about and comfortable with communities (and in communities) than most philosophers are, and so he is very good at recognizing when they go wrong.
-- Michael Walzer New York Review of Books

In remaining loyal to the complexity of his terrain, Margalit ends with the sanguine possibility that betrayal might be unavoidable.
-- Luke Brunning Times Higher Education

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
1. Why Betrayal? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Ambiguities of Betrayal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
3. Betraying Thick Relations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
4. What Is Betrayal? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
5. Treason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
6. Collaboration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
7. A Collaborator in the Court of History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
8. Apostasy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
9. Class Betrayal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
10. A World without Betrayal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 310
Keywords: Adultery; Altruism; Apostasy; Belonging; Betrayal; Collaboration; Ethics; Fraternity; Justice; Loyalty; Morality; Solidarity; Thick relations; Traitors; Treason; Trust; Whistle-blowing

eBook

Published: February 6, 2017
ISBN: 9780674973930