Waltzer, part 2

Michael Waltzer, amazing...

On November 2, 2005 I was lucky enough to have had lunch with Waltzer.

For those of you who don't recognize the name, he is the formost living author concerned with the ethics of warfare. Everyone else must justify deviations from his theory.

Personally
He is a very kind and gentle man. Small, Jewish and brilliant -- someone who listens to what you have to say, considers it and he either agrees or respectfully disagrees -- and justifies his disagreements... I found it amazing to be telling him about my teaching, coaching and my experience with the military.

Professionally
Amazing, he gave me excellent ideas about where to go with my dissertation, including suggestions as to what to add to just war theory... the ethics of pre-war actions (I think he developed this on the fly at lunch, but I'm not sure..) and the ethics of post-war actions. Both of which have some basic things in common -- namely they concern nearly traditional war-like actions taken for coercive reasons. Police-like actions and blockaids are the bookends of war, and especially with the way modern wars are fought, are most of the actual time and effort expended.

Yea, it was a good dissertation week. I can't wait to find the sources Waltzer suggested...