Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 14:16:20 -0600 (Central Standard Time)
Subject: HAB: Dear colleagues


Dear colleagues,

Everyone, certainly everyone on this list, has political
commitments and programmatic aspirations.  However, I do not
believe that this list is the place to pursue those.  I belong to
this list to help me think about Habermas's work and discourse
ethics-related theory, not to wade through political appeals.

Some may believe that such issues are appropriate to this list in
that Habermas's work can help us understand them.  However,
Habermas's work bears on almost any social issue, so that
criterion doesn't exclude very many posts.

For example, Raul Rodriguez's original post was a straightforward
appeal for action on a political issue;  it did not illuminate
Habermas's thought or even mention Habermas's name.  Whatever
theoretical questions might belatedly be raised to situate the
issue within a Habermasian context, the original post did not do
so.

We face the basic question is what sort of list we want this to
be.  Once we start down the path of political exhortations, I
believe the list's original, basic purpose will be lost.

Let me say that I'm not objecting to the message carried by the
post.  I believe that Israel is treating the Palestinians
disgracefully, and the United States is sitting idly by.  I still
don't think that this list should be used in this way.

Even though I expect many people to disagree with this message,
I'm not going to defend my position beyond this post.  There's
nothing to defend, really.  It's really just the general
intention of the list membership that is in question.

Best regards,

Steve


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| Stephen Chilton, Associate Professor, Dept of Pol Science
|    Univ of Minnesota-Duluth / Duluth, MN 55812-2496 / USA
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|       -- Larry Sillanpa, editorial in the 1/23/2002 issue of
|           _Labor World_ (of Duluth, Minnesota)
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