File spoon-archives/habermas.archive/habermas_2001/habermas.0102, message 41


Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 12:04:13 -0500
Subject: HAB: Bibliography
From: Martin Blanchard <tintamar-AT-club-internet.fr>


Hello to all;

I agree with Gary and Matthew, that we need to illuminate the notion of
fallibilism. Gary's proposition looks like a step in the right direction.
But I can't add much on that subject. I can only repeat what I have seen
elsewhere: Is fallibilism a _concept_ itself not fallible (Apel) or is it
more like a _notion_ in need of revision (Gary)?

Anyways, I have a much more "pragmatic" contribution to make.

Some of you may well know this, but I just discovered that Constellations
vol. 7, n. 4 (December 2000) contains yet a new (but short) article by
Habermas, "Remarks on Erhard Denninger's Triad of Diversity, Security and
Solidarity". Like the title says, it is a response to a preceding article by
Denninger, which proposes to replace "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" with
the above motto.  Habermas's article itself doesn't seem to say nothing new.
It looks more like a restatement of previous views. This time the insistance
is on constitution-making (verfassungsgebende praxis). And for the very
first time, a doubt shone in my head concerning the centrality of public
discourse. Is the latter really THE appropriate model for thinking the
verfassungsgebende praxis, to the exclusion of social contract and
stabilization of a common culture heritage, as Habermas pretends? Let me
raise an eyebrow here. The way Habermas rejects collective guarantees of
cultural rights in this article, seems to me like a problem comparable to
what critics like McCarthy and Bernstein have termed as a reification of
certain distinctions.

The same volume of Constellations contains an article by Simon Critchley
trying to set an agenda for a Derrida-Habermas meeting, and a response by
Derrida as to why the said meeting didn't take place (both cancelled one
after the other due to illness), and he later offers what sounds like a
general criticism of the concept of unconditionality. So maybe there is
something about fallibility in here.

Don't take my comments for granted, these were made fast and are supported
by a partial reading - just wanted to add a number to the steady-growing
bibliography this list has built.


Regards,

Martin B



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