Post-Modern Cosmopolitanism & Discourse Ethics

<p>This paper sets out an approach – post-modern cosmopolitanism – that seeks to allow moral conversation and moral justification between groups and individuals who do not share any substantive values. It does this without denying the plurality of value systems (universalism) and without allowing groups to retreat behind inviolable walls of ethical self-containment (relativism). The approach relies on many aspects of Jurgen Habermas’s discourse ethics, but it takes discourse ethics in a new direction, leading to a unique approach. I start the paper by showing the problems with the current dominant alternatives – universalism and relativism – both in terms of their lack of internal consistency and in terms of their inability to mitigate and resolve conflict in practice. I then introduce some of the important concepts that form the basis of the post-modern cosmopolitan approach: discourse ethics, communicative reason, the principles of discourse, and the idea of fundamental goals. Following this I discuss the nature of ‘reasons,’ in order to make sense of the claim of discourse ethics that we should engage with each other via an ‘exchange of reasons,’ and also to outline some of the key distinctions necessary for understanding the praxis of post-modern cosmopolitanism, the ‘cosmopolitan conversation’. Finally I examine some of the deficiencies in Habermas’s discourse ethics, and show how post-modern cosmopolitanism can overcome them. I conclude by outlining the nature of the ‘cosmopolitan conversation,’ and gesture at how we might begin to apply post-modern cosmopolitanism in real-world situations.</p>

Post-Modern Cosmopolitanism & Discourse Ethics

<p>This paper sets out an approach – post-modern cosmopolitanism – that seeks to allow moral conversation and moral justification between groups and individuals who do not share any substantive values. It does this without denying the plurality of value systems (universalism) and without allowing groups to retreat behind inviolable walls of ethical self-containment (relativism). The approach relies on many aspects of Jurgen Habermas’s discourse ethics, but it takes discourse ethics in a new direction, leading to a unique approach. I start the paper by showing the problems with the current dominant alternatives – universalism and relativism – both in terms of their lack of internal consistency and in terms of their inability to mitigate and resolve conflict in practice. I then introduce some of the important concepts that form the basis of the post-modern cosmopolitan approach: discourse ethics, communicative reason, the principles of discourse, and the idea of fundamental goals. Following this I discuss the nature of ‘reasons,’ in order to make sense of the claim of discourse ethics that we should engage with each other via an ‘exchange of reasons,’ and also to outline some of the key distinctions necessary for understanding the praxis of post-modern cosmopolitanism, the ‘cosmopolitan conversation’. Finally I examine some of the deficiencies in Habermas’s discourse ethics, and show how post-modern cosmopolitanism can overcome them. I conclude by outlining the nature of the ‘cosmopolitan conversation,’ and gesture at how we might begin to apply post-modern cosmopolitanism in real-world situations.</p>

On the Contemporary Relevance of Jürgen Habermas’ Social Theory

This introduction discusses the contemporary relevance of Jürgen Habermas’ social theory following the publication of his recent work, Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie (2019). It deals with his key topics and interventionist style of thinking. The essence of Habermas’ critical theory is its unwavering commitment to the utopia of communicative reason.

Post-Cold War International Political Theory

The way the Cold War ended and the triumph of market capitalism constituted the global, economic preconditions and the liberal democratic premises for abstract speculation about how the evolving world order ought to be governed. Release from the ideological straightjacket of the Cold War stimulated interest in social justice, emancipation, human security, human rights and international law. Ethics and culture replaced economics and historical materialism as subjects of academic inquiry. Human rights and social justice had been cards of low value in the Cold War ideological pack. Now, global values and shared norms trumped everything. The return of Grand Theory in a progressive guise saw otherwise obscure philosophical speculation concerning social justice and communicative reason form the basis for progressive theories of a communitarian, feminist and cosmopolitan character devoted to the ethical transformation of a global society. Political thought, once concerned with liberty and equality within the democratic state, now assumed a radical, emancipatory international dimension. It came to dominate the thought and practice of the western campus as well as form the tacit ideological dimension informing a new progressive, post political and post historicist third way.

Centripetal force: a totalitarian movement in contemporary Brazil

The mass movement that made Bolsonaro is driven by the redemptive promise of resolving Brazil's social conflicts and ending its social differences: Bolsonarismo will create a community of equals in a Christian fatherland. It is a political phenomenon that seeks a major shift away from modern politics: instead of party mediation, a mass movement; instead of the law, male honour; instead of representation, identity; instead of pluralism, the brotherhood; instead of the Constitution, the Gospel; and, finally, in the place of communicative reason, raw violence. Its defining characteristic is aversion to difference. The article describes and analyses the contours of the movement, as well as the shock its success has produced among the elites and intelligentsia. It draws from ethnographical research in Brazil's urban peripheries to identify the forces that have driven Bolsonaro forward. And it highlights the central elements of the cyclical crisis that Brazil is experiencing in 2020, and its possible consequences.

Jurgen Habermas' turn to a "post-secular society": from sublation of the sacred to translation of the sacred

In this article I place Jurgen Habermas' recent turn to a "post-secular society" in the context of his previous defence of a "postmetaphysical" view of modernity. My argument is that the concept of "postsecular" introduces significant normative tensions for the formal and pragmatic view of reason defended by Habermas in previous work. In particular, the turn to a "post-secular society" threatens the evolutionary narrative that Habermas (following Weber) espoused in The Theory of Communicative Action (1981, 1987), The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1990) or Postmetaphysical Thinking (1992), according to which modern "communicative" reason dialecticlly supersedes religion. If this narrative is undermined, I argue, the claim to universality of "communicative" reason is also undermined. Thus, the benefits Habermas seeks to obtain from translation of religion are offset by a destabilization of tenets central to a "postmetaphysical" view of modernity.

Transcendence in Postmetaphysical Thinking. Habermas' God

Habermas emphasizes the importance for critical thinking of ideas of truth and moral validity that are at once context-transcending and immanent to human practices. in a recent review, Peter Dews queries his distinction between metaphysically construed transcendence and transcendence from within, asking provocatively in what sense Habermas does not believe in God. I answer that his conception of “God” is resolutely postmetaphysical, a god that is constructed by way of human linguistic practices. I then give three reasons for why it should not be embraced by contemporary critical social theory. First, in the domain of practical reason, this conception of transcendence excludes by fiat any “Other” to communicative reason, blocking possibilities for mutual learning. Second, due to the same exclusion, it risks reproducing an undesirable social order. Third, it is inadequate for the purposes of a critical theory of social institutions.

A CONCEPÇÃO COMUNICATIVA DA EDUCAÇÃO NA PERSPECTIVA DE JÜRGEN HABERMAS: A DIMENSÃO INTERSUBJETIVA DA EXPERIÊNCIA FORMATIVA

Uma subjetividade tecida pela intersubjetividade elucida o tema proposto pelo presente artigo, a saber, de se pensar uma concepção comunicativa de educação a partir de Habermas. A nossa hipótese é de que a dimensão intersubjetiva, desenvolvida pelo filósofo alemão, renova o conceito de experiência formativa, ao recuperar seu caráter crítico e emancipatório e por propor uma práxis dialógica para a ação pedagógica. Assim, o escopo principal será analisar a configuração da concepção comunicativa da educação na perspectiva habermasiana. Desse modo, o artigo está dividido em duas partes: (a) na primeira, apontaremos o contexto (guinada linguístico-pragmática; razão comunicativa; mundo da vida) em que a educação se insere; (b) para analisar, no segundo momento, de que forma se edifica o conceito comunicativo da educação, oferecendo uma alternativa para o problema da formação humana. A escolha do tema se justifica por contrapor à racionalidade instrumental que, desde a implantação da tendência tecnicista na educação brasileira, promovida pelos governos militares (1964-1985), vem orientando a experiência no Brasil.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Razão comunicativa. Mundo da vida. Educação. Jürgen Habermas. ABSTRACTA subjectivity woven by intersubjectivity elucidates the theme proposed by the present article, namely, to think about a communicative conception of education from Habermas. Our hypothesis is that the intersubjective dimension, developed by the German philosopher, renews the concept of formative experience by recovering its critical and emancipatory character and by proposing a dialogic praxis for pedagogical action. The present article investigates, from the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas, the construction of a communicative conception of education. In this way, the article is divided into two parts: (a) in the first one, we will point out the linguistic context (linguistic-pragmatic guise, communicative reason, world of life) that education is inserted; (b) to analyze, in the second moment, how the communicative concept of education is built, offering an alternative to the problem of human formation. The choice of theme is justified by opposing the instrumental rationality that, since the implantation of the technicist tendency in Brazilian education, promoted by the military governments (1964-1985), has guided the experience in BraziKEY-WORDS: Communicative Reason. World of Life. Education. Jürgen Habermas

Essays in Experience

This chapter argues that the familiar essay becomes an important analogue for communicative reason through its connections with three crucial features of socialized empiricism: scepticism, dialogue, and philosophical thought as performance. The first of this trio of concerns stems from a connection between the activity of ‘essaying’ and philosophical doubt. The second emerges around the genre’s association with ideas of sociability and the activities of dialogue and conversation. Addison’s declared intention to bring philosophy and science out of the academies and into the coffee houses is radicalized by Hume’s endeavour to incorporate the language of sociability into the principles of philosophy itself. Consequently, in the familiar essay, Hume and Johnson find a generic trope for an active and engaged (rather than receptive and contemplative) empiricism, one which implies that the truth of any empirical statement ultimately depends upon the manner of its performance.