Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 20:51:52 -0800
From: Gary <gedavis-AT-pacbell.net>
Subject: HAB: Durkheim, dramaturgy, Gary...


Deb writes, re: HAB: Being exemplary...II, “I just want to ask if all
this doesn't remind you of Durkheim?”

Yes, it all doesn’t.  But now that you mention him, I see that “all
this” could. 

What *about* Durkheim are you reminded of?

My only awareness of Durkheim is through Habermas’ reading of him in
TCA.2. Durkheim is one of the authorships that constitutes the
discursive structure of TCA.2, and I haven’t gone back to that for some
years. My recollection is that Durkheim is the main text through which
Habermas clarifies his sense of social evolution, going back to
_Legitimation Crisis_, 1973. The notion of developmental differentiation
is directly inspired by Durkheim’s work, I presume. What was most
fascinating to me about Habermas’ focus on Durkheim in TCA.2 was the
process of differentiation.

But numerous basic features of Durkheim’s approach are problematic for
Habermas. I suspect that Habermas’ dissatisfaction with Durkheim’s
concentration on ethical life was a keystone in his focus on Kohlberg’s
moral developmental work in the mid-70s onward, inasmuch as Habermas’
formation of a theory of social evolution seems to be a major current in
his career.

So, Habermas’ relationship to Durkheim is a good topic!  This List has
touched on the topics of Habermas & Kant, & Hegel, & Gadamer, & Peirce,
& Luhmann, & Gorz, & Taylor, & Lyotard, & DERRIDA, and Toffler.  But no
Durkheim.

If James Chriss’ essay title, “Durkheim’s Cult of the Individual as
Civil Religion...,” captures something essential about Durkheim (I have
no reason to believe otherwise), then I don’t see how one could be
reminded of Durkheim by *Habermas’* concern with ethical-moral
discourse, as expressed in his work of the past decade. This is not to
say that I believe one *shouldn’t* be reminded of Durkheim. I just don’t
see how that would happen. I’m sure a pursuit of this would be
interesting.

My own “ethical” journey through Habermas’ “...Employments...” may
suggest Durkheim, but that’s news to me. 

It could be, though, that, given a deeper and broader sense of ethical
life than what Habermas recognizes, Durkheim might deserve a more
central place in a theory of social evolution than Habermas is willing
to grant. That’s an appealing prospect that I’ve noted for later
consideration, in a context of reading TCA.2 again (the prospect doesn't
currently feel plausible, I confess). 

                                                              *   *   *

A dramaturgical approach to action is highly appropriate for thinking
about “ethical” life. After a few more comments about Habermas’ “moral
outlook” in “...Employments...,” in a posting or two this week (I hope),
I want to return to a more concerted focus on the differentiated sense
of ethical life, in accord with Habermas’ sense of ethical life in
"...Employments..." and beyond Habermas’ sense of this there (but in
accord with his project of democratic social evolution, I hope). 

The expressive validity claim is the aspect of reasonable interaction
that most pertains to self understanding, and a dramaturgical approach
to interaction more accurately addresses the situation of self
understanding than other approachs to interaction. Thinking about
ethical life and analyzing ethical situations in terms of a
dramaturgical approach to interaction *belong* together, as narrative
and description belong together in historiography or phenomenology and
clinical observation belong together in psychology. 

I’ve been wondering what I’d most like to focus on, with Habermas, after
the “...Employments...” essay (having my own project in mind), and it
occurs to me that nothing seems more appealing than to return to TCA.1
on dramaturgical action, for a new venue of self-clarification, if you
will. I *want* to do that soon--though I’m vulnerable to numerous
directions of Habermasian dwelling, and I don't want to be bothersome
for the emailboxes of others on this List.

First things first, though: back to "...Employments..."

Gary


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