Date: Sun, 14 May 1995 13:12:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: Philip Goldstein <pgold-AT-strauss.udel.edu>
Subject: HAB: norms


	Lenny Moss says, "Habermas seeks to draw upon the norms which
are implicit in discourse itself.  That doesn't place any contraints upon
the substantive content of discourse so long as it remains 
discourse." I was arguing that Marxist discourse lacks the norms which, 
according to Habermas, would enable Marxist to resist Stalinism. Clearly 
Marxist discourse remains a discourse. What's more, I believe that 
Habermas faults postmodern discourse for failing to preserve the norms 
which foster a critical self-consciousness. In other words, the norms 
which Habermas attributes to discourse are not necessarily features of 
discourse but stem, I believe, from Kantian theory. That's why I claimed 
that these norms are absolute. Do I go too far?

Philip Goldstein