Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 14:54:36 EDT
Subject: Re: HAB: Normativity


In a message dated 10/3/98 9:27:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
kenneth.mackendrick-AT-utoronto.ca writes:

<< However while Kant attempted 
 to ground the moral law in a transcendental analysis - 
 Habermas must ground it in pragmatics.  >>

Habermas does not ground the moral law, he grounds the justification of norms,
some of which may refer to moral and ethical "laws" but also to practical (or
political!) rules, to pragmatic conditions for communication.  In doing so, he
points out the numerous contradictions of views, Kant's and Rousseau's for
example, that are unable to solve the problem of morality and political
autonomy, or personal interests and the general will.

Fred Welfare


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