Communitarianism
Lately I’ve been reading a bit of books by communal thinkers – Taylor, McIntyre, Sandel, Scruton (Navon’s book, which has just been released, Taking Root, also deals with this)… On the one hand, I very much identify with the claim that man is a social animal, and the consideration of this aspect of human identity in making social decisions (as opposed to extreme atomistic liberalism)… On the other hand, I am bothered when morality is also linked to this context, and drifts towards relativism (perhaps not in general principles)… It is perhaps possible to respect the social order in choosing the form to implement a more moral reality, but morality is ostensibly completely objective (and in principle, laws related to it should be the same everywhere)…. What is the Rabbi’s position on this thinking? In the field of identity, (when the Rabbi is a well-known libertarian), and in the field of morality, (when the Rabbi is a well-known Kantian – another perception of the Enlightenment that differs from this perception)…
I do not deal with these topics and books, because I usually do not find any innovations there. Conservatism can be a substantive or technical claim: substantive – it is good to be conservative because the values of the community are binding by their very nature. Technical – the wisdom accumulated over the years has value and it is not worth rejecting it out of hand. I oppose the first and doubt the second.
If people attach their identity to some collective, that’s a psychological fact. What should my opinion be on the matter? Some agree and some don’t.
If you want to discuss a specific question, it’s better to bring it up or provide some example.
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