Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 08:58:26 -0500 ()
From: Steve Chilton <schilton-AT-d.umn.edu>
Subject: RE: HAB: Help!


On Wed, 6 Aug 1997, Vic Peterson wrote:

> Hi, Steve,
> 
> It just doesn't sound right to me that Habermas would say that the meaning
> of our claims is "absolute."  For example, validity claims raised on behalf
> of moral norms are meant to be PRIMA FACIE, not absolutely, valid--despite
> the fact that they are performatively meant by their utterers to be
> universally valid (i.e., worthy of the recognition of everyone, or at least
> everyone possibly affected) and unconditionally binding (i.e., regardless of
> our [contingent!] indentity-constitutive values and our preferences).  The
> prima facie validity claimed for moral norms leaves underdetermined the
> additional question of their situational appropriateness, disputes over
> which are to be addressed in moral application discourses (the topic of my
> dissertation and Klaus Guenther's excellent but apparently little read book).

I don't think we're saying different things.  The
fascist-sounding term, "absolute", has already raised the
hackles of many of my friends, but all it means is an assertion
that the norm applies to the other to whom one speaks.  If there
is no such assertion, then there is no moral statement -- i.e.,
no statement binding more than the speaker -- and thus no
engagement with each other.  The other half of the quote, that
we in fact make such assertions from a contingent position,
recognizes that there can be no pretense that one's statements
are actually absolutely valid. 

> 
> However, Habermas does say repeatedly and in many places that validity claims
> are "Janus-faced," since their meanings are "context-transcendent" and, in
> the case of moral claims, "universally obligating," even though they are each
> raised "here and now" in some particular context.  This might be obvious
> and/or not what you're looking for, but it sounds close to the quote you
> remember.

Yes, this sounds like what I'm looking for, and I would indeed
appreciate some cites.  Thanks!

Best,
Steve

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| Stephen Chilton, Associate Professor, Dept of Pol Science |
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