The Elshtain-Gordon Debate over Just War Against Terror
See a copy of the Elshtain letter in PDF
See Gordon’s response
See the original review
Elshtain: “Suggesting that I require a ‘remedial course in logic’ is a sentence that could only have been written by a crude positivist, a sexist, or both. I am one who is loathe (sic) to suggest that anyone is a sexist. This is a term bandied about too readily. But when a reviewer charges a senior woman, one who has edited or authored 20 books, a number of which have received awards, with being a stranger to logic, something is going on... I realize that this letter will go into nowhere land. It must be great fun to commit hit and run without any fear of debate or response!”
Gordon: “She devotes a large part of the book to expounding the just war standards, as she sees them. At the same time, she calls for a return to the wisdom of Niebuhr. She says nothing about the apparent contradiction between the just war tradition and Niebuhr. It was for this reason that I unkindly suggested that she take a remedial course in logic.... What is the ‘very narrow view of logic’ that she thinks I adopt? She leaves us in the dark. I hope it is not the view that contradictions must be avoided.”
Posted by Mises.org Update
