Response
摘要
In this chapter, Michael Walzer responds to the other essays in the collection. He reflects on the changes in context between when the late 1970s, when he wrote Spheres of Justice, and today. Despite the rightward shift of American politics that began in the 70s, Walzer sees that era as more conducive to egalitarian theorizing that aimed to change the world than in the current one. Responding to claims that today's political polarization demonstrates the absence or collapse of shared understandings, he describes it instead as a break in our recognition of the factual state of the world. This suggests that an important sphere missing from Spheres is that of information, so Walzer considers what a sphere of information might look like and how it relates to education. Walzer concludes that the threat to complex equality is not so much polarization as the political failures of the left. He goes on to address specific issues raised by each contributor to this volume.