Paul Goodman Replies

I don’t want to answer Mike Walzer in any detail, since much of what he says by way of criticism I also strongly affirm in my book—he is not a close reader. Perhaps I write too much in the old style, of meaning what I say pretty exactly, including the little concessive clauses, and people aren’t used to this any more.

There seems to be one simple misunderstanding that I can mention for purposes of dialogue. Mike assumes that there is normally such a thing as an isolated individual who can make free choices. The evidence is, I think, that people are communal by nature (they naturally speak, imitate, communicate, identify, compete, etc.); when they are stripped to their individuality, they are in a pathological situation and must fight hard to keep the pathology from being internalized as charismatic or mass-identification. One way is to assert community and cry out to friends for help, as I do. At best, however, we are anxious and vulnerable.

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