In March 1979, philosopher Avishai Margalit found himself at a gathering in Michel Foucault’s Paris apartment, convened by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir to discuss “Israel and the Arab World.” Amid the charged atmosphere surrounding the imminent Egypt-Israel peace treaty, competing intellectual and generational tensions unfolded. Margalit, then a young academic, observed how a group of younger North African intellectuals challenged Sartre’s established circle, highlighting deeper cultural and ideological shifts.

Throughout his career, Margalit has been a central figure in Israeli and international philosophy. He is emeritus professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has held positions at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and other major universities worldwide. Renowned for his broad scholarly reach across logic, language, political, social, and moral philosophy, Margalit’s work is distinguished by its originality and reliance on illustrative examples rather than abstract theoretical systems.

Margalit has also been an influential voice beyond academia. He regularly contributed to The New York Review of Books, offering commentary on Israeli politics, historic figures such as David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin, and issues including the settlement movement and peace negotiations. His writings have been translated into 16 languages, and he has received numerous accolades, including the Israel Prize and the EMET Prize.

Despite his international stature, Margalit’s public presence in Israel has been comparatively low profile. Observers attribute this to his focus on audiences abroad, writing predominantly in English, and a personal inclination toward a “committed observer” role—engaged with but slightly removed from the public spotlight.

In recent years, Margalit has collaborated with his student and co-author Assaf Sharon on the book “Captive Minds: A Study of Manipulation,” published in May by Harvard University Press. The work explores how political control has shifted from physical coercion to psychological manipulation. Drawing on historical and philosophical perspectives, including insights from figures such as David Hume and Hermann Göring, the book examines the mechanisms by which leaders influence and govern populations not just through force but through persuasion and exploitation of vulnerabilities.

Margalit and Sharon argue that manipulation differs from coercion by its interactive nature, involving complicity by those being influenced. They also challenge the classical liberal ideal of the “open society” promulgated by Karl Popper. While openness traditionally connotes a free and unrestricted exchange of ideas, the authors contend that such unrestricted communication has inadvertently facilitated the spread of demagoguery, conspiracy theories, and propaganda, thereby undermining genuine democratic freedom.

The authors caution that the utopian vision of unrestricted freedom of speech did not anticipate the rise of social media, where misinformation spreads rapidly and political manipulation intensifies. Margalit acknowledges the value of free speech but stresses the need for certain limits to preserve the integrity of public discourse. This position has sparked debate over whether calls for limitations on speech represent a conservative defense of traditional elites or a pragmatic response to the current realities of political communication.

Margalit’s philosophical and political journey dates back to the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967, when he experienced what he describes as a revelatory moment while patrolling Hebron. That instant, he recalls, crystallized a deep sense that Israel had entered a complex and precarious situation. This insight sparked his lifelong engagement with questions about Israel’s political and moral challenges.

Now 87 and residing in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, Margalit remains intellectually active, continuing to reflect on issues of ethics, politics, and society. His extensive career and recent work with Sharon contribute to ongoing debates about the nature of power, freedom, and responsibility in modern democracies, particularly in the context of Israel and its complex political landscape.