Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:26:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: HAB: Re: Left in division (does Habermas have a solution?)


In this quote, I see Habermas trying to address the difficult question
of how a secular ego can see injury to others as 'wrong' from within
it's own heart, by it's own will, and not merely because it is demanded
by an externally (socially) rationalized and enforced constraint of
law.

Pragmatists like Rorty (no proponent of religion) don't shy away from
pointing out that 'the secular emperor is wearing no clothes' - there
is simply no non-metaphysical way to ground the belief that one
shouldn't harm another.

"Secular languages that simply eliminate what was once there leave
behind only irritation.  Something was lost when sin became guilt.  The
desire for forgiveness is, after all, still closely connected with the
unsentimental wish to undo other injuries as well."
-JH

The text of Habermas's whole speech can be found here:

http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0111/msg00100.html

Regards,

Tom



--- Kenneth MacKendrick <kenneth.mackendrick-AT-utoronto.ca> wrote:
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Thomas McDonald <mcdonald928-AT-yahoo.com>
> To: <habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
> Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 9:14 AM
> Subject: HAB: Left in division (does Habermas have a solution?)
> >
> > "Something was lost when sin became guilt."
> > -Jurgen Habermas
> 
> Where can I find this quote? It is either remarkably out of context
> or
> Habermas has lost his mind. Sin describes a breakdown in human
> relations,
> and guilt is the experience of this breakdown and the awareness of
> responsibility for it. The idea that something gets lost implies that
> one
> shouldn't feel guilty when relationships break down, which would mean
> that
> one doesn't need to take responsibility for sin! This runs counter to
> almost
> everything else Habermas has written.
> 
> ken
> 
> 
> 
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