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What Goes Wrong in Habermas’s Pragmatic Justification of (U)?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2017

JUVÉNAL NDAYAMBAJE Open the ORCID record for JUVÉNAL NDAYAMBAJE [Opens in a new window]
JUVÉNAL NDAYAMBAJE*
Affiliation:
Université Catholique de Louvain
*
*<juvenal.ndayambaje@uclouvain.be>
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Abstract

In his moral theory, named ‘discourse ethics,’ Jürgen Habermas holds that a norm is morally valid only when it is universalizable. He establishes the principle of universalization (U) as the procedural principle for testing the moral validity of norms in moral discourse. He argues that this principle can be derived from the pragmatic presuppositions of argumentation in general. By explicating the fiduciary status of pragmatic presuppositions of argumentation, and by distinguishing perspectival from comprehensive universalization, I argue that Habermas fails to justify his moral principle.

Dans sa théorie morale, dénommée «éthique de la discussion», Jürgen Habermas considère qu’une norme n’est moralement valide que lorsqu’elle est universalisable. Il propose le principe d’universalisation (U) comme principe de procédure pour tester la validité morale des normes dans une discussion pratique. Il fonde ce principe sur les présuppositions pragmatiques de l’argumentation en général. Par la présentation du statut fiduciaire de ces dernières, et en distinguant l’universalisation partielle de l’universalisation globale, cet article vise à montrer pourquoi Habermas ne parvient pas à justifier son principe moral.

Keywords

argumentationimmanent justificationpragmatic presuppositionsperspectival universalizationcomprehensive universalizationparticipant’s attitudetheorist’s attitude
Type
Articles
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 89 - 110
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Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2017 

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