Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 18:03:06 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
From: Stephen Chilton <schilton-AT-d.umn.edu>
Subject: HAB: The ISS and the horizon


On Fri, 12 Jan 2001 Vunch-AT-aol.com [Fred Welfare] wrote:

> In a message dated 1/12/01 8:56:54 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> kenneth.mackendrick-AT-utoronto.ca writes:
> 
> > This would render any kind of "undistorted speech situation"
> > a conceptual impossibility
> 
> Habermas has repeatedly stated that the ISS is a
> counterfactual which is logically necessary to judge the
> degree of distortion of any situation.  Otherwise, on what
> standard would you be able to judge whether any distortion is
> occuring?  The real question is whether the ISS is an horizon
> towards which we aspire or an opening beyond the horizon which
> we cannot yet observe, but which we can envision in thought.

It seems clear to me that the ISS cannot be a horizon toward which
we aspire, because our sense of what is ideal is changing as we
learn more.  This is in keeping with the dialectical logic --
sorry, reconstructive science logic -- of H's theory.  If it's
beyond the horizon, then we don't know whether it exists or not,
but that probably doesn't make any difference -- we are still
drawn toward the horizon by our understanding of the non-ideal
speech we're stuck with at the [at any] moment.

Best,

Steve



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