Politics of Decency

Authors:

DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000287

Volume 6, Issue 1

Abstract

The article bears an implicit appeal to judge political programs not by ideological labels but rather by the criteria I call ‘decency.’ I enjoin Martin Buber’s concept of dialogue to argue that a politics of decency seeks to promote human well-being that reaches beyond mere material flourishing but is attentive to the full sweep of the regnant existential, social and politics realities that diminish fundamental human dignity. Such a political ethic, as Buber would put it, transcends the barriers of regarding others as “It” – as perceived and conceived by the divisive categories of religious and cultural affiliation, age, sexual orientation, socalled race, and as inveterate political opponents.  

Keywords: Avishai Margalit; Martin Buber; Nelson Mandela; Bishop Tutu; the Zulu concept of Ubuntu; Truth and Reconciliations

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