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Nationalist Criticisms Of Cosmopolitan Justice, András Miklós

Andras Miklos

This paper critically evaluates some central arguments offered by nationalists against stringent international requirements of justice. The first part considers and rejects Michael Walzer’s argument against international justice relying on a view about the social meanings of goods. The refutation points out, first, that Walzer’s thesis is not true as an empirical matter, and, second, it is not an attractive normative position since it is biased towards certain conceptions of the good. The second part of the paper considers non-relativistic arguments for national partiality. It distinguishes between instrumental and intrinsic arguments and argues that neither form is capable of justifying …