シカゴにいる・・・。
はい、そうなんです。アメリカを旅行中です。
この旅行ではたくさんのものを見て、たくさんのものを食べ、たくさんの人と出会っているので書きたいことがたくさんあるのですが全然追いつきません。
夏休みをかけて順番に報告していこうと思います。
In Chicago...I am.
Yes. I am currently travelling in the US.
In the past few weeks, I have seen so many things, eaten so many things, met so many people...
I have been wanting to update about all these but the speed of my experiences are way faster than the speed of my writing. But hopefully, I will write on my trip when I am back in Japan and have more time.
今日はゆっくりする日と自分で決めたので久しぶりに本屋さんで4時間も過ごした。
Barnes & Nobleというお店の中にある本を好きに読んでいいという本屋さん。
ということで思う存分立ち読みならぬ「座り読み」。
Foreign Affairsという雑誌を読んだがその中にとても素敵な論文があったのでなんだか突然ブログで紹介しなければという気になった。
以下英語の引用になるが興味がある方はどうぞ。
But today, I spent four hours (!!) at a bookshop and encountered a very inspirational essay by Michael Walzer on Foreign Affairs (July/August, 2011) and that made me really want to share some of his thoughts.
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On Humanitarianism: Is Helping Others Charity, or Duty, or Both?
By Michael Walzer
Foreign Affairs (July/August 2011)
The summary of the essay is published on the website
Is international humanitarianism an act of charity or an act of duty? In fact, it is both -- a gift we have to give. Stateless Jews in the Diaspora developed a good conceptual framework for handling such two-in-one moral obligations, one that can be used to think clearly about humanitarianism in international society today.
Below are the some of the parts I particularly found interesting. I don't know whether these quotes alone make sense but if you find them appealing, you should definitely read the original essay.
"But the ideal, the collective sense of what 'tzedakah' should be, was shaped by the belief that charity had to be governed by the demands of justice. And this two-in-one conception arises from the experience of statelessness." (Walzer, 2011: 73)
On Libya: "Their (US and NATO) motives were and are humanitarian, but not sufficiently shaped by considerations of prudence and justice." (Walzer, 2011:77)
"Although we are often told that the state system must be transcended, sovereignty is in fact humanitarianism's morally necessary end..." (Walzer, 2011:80)
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The way Walzer links the idea of humanitarianism and justice, with almost poetic reference to the Jewish experiences, is fascinating. This essay has given me some good insights on how to think about global security, international humanitarian intervention and sovereignty.
この論文の中でWalzerは人道主義と正義というのをユダヤ人の経験と関連づけて議論するがその書き方は本当に「綺麗」（社会科学の論文にこんな言葉をあてはめていいのかと思うが）で感心する。大学での授業を通して考えてきた国際秩序、国際人道援助・介入や国家主権の問題すべてとリンクする示唆に富んだ論文だった。こういう論文と出会えた日は幸せ。