Where Are We Now? Michael Ignatieff’s, The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World

Malcolm Maclaren

doi:10.1017/glj.2019.60

Abstract

AbstractThe book that has most stimulated my life in the law over the past year is Michael Ignatieff’s The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World.1 I write “stimulated” rather than “inspired” because some of its claims are disorientating, others are disputable, and the most important are disconcerting. Despite, or rather due to, that provocation I find the book more engaging. The Ordinary Virtues is a self-described moral progress report amid globalization and as such is a work of sociology, anthropology, and philosophy. However, Ignatieff’s report implicates many important topical issues of international and constitutional law. It should, I believe, inform the thinking of legal scholars on global ethics and public policy today.

Highlights

The book that has most stimulated my life in the law over the past year is Michael Ignatieff’s The Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World
The Ordinary Virtues is a self-described moral progress report amid globalization and as such is a work of sociology, anthropology, and philosophy
Summary of the Book’s Claims Ignatieff’s principal observation is that “human rights may be the language of states and liberal elites,” but that “the moral language that resonates with most people is that of everyday virtues,” i.e. of trust, tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience