Tamir, Rawls, and the Temple Mount

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

10 p.

Publication Date

11-2005

Publisher

Wiley

Source Publication

Journal of Applied Philosophy

Source ISSN

0264-3758

Original Item ID

doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5930.2005.00311.x

Abstract

What gives ethical and political validity to a state? This is to ask what a state is for and to provide a means to determine whether or not a constitution is just. In this paper I compare the account given by Tamir in Liberal Nationalism with that of Rawls, in order to clarify the decisive differences. Although both recognize the importance of particular associations and the moral imperative to be fair, Tamir places priority on the first and Rawls on the second. I explore their practical implications in regard to the ethical defensibility of Israel’s self-identification as a Jewish state and to conflicting nationalistic territorial claims for the Temple Mount (Haram esh-Sharif) in Jerusalem. I suggest that if Tamir is correct in her analysis of nationalism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a problem that is without the sort of solution that is sought by those who are both interested parties and rational agents of good will.

Comments

Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 22, No. 3 (November 2005): 289-298. DOI.

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