Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 21:07:45 -0500
Subject: Re: HAB: Re: Left in division (does Habermas have a solution?)


These statements are reactionary on the face of it.  But they also reveal 
the Achilles heel of alienation, wherefrom liberalism, always unable to 
ground itself in anything substantial, seeks escape into something 
else--always authoritarian--and is always gullible in the refuges it takes.

It takes an exceptionally alienated and clueless person to exercise himself 
to death over the non-question of finding an empathetic basis for concern 
with others outside of religious metaphysics, or for finding an externally 
sanctioned ground, whether it be religion or secular law.  Sin and guilt, 
what foolishness!

At 10:26 AM 03/08/2002 -0800, Thomas McDonald wrote:
>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

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