Habermas’ comprehensive Theory of Society
The five basic research programmes
pragmatic theory of meaning
theory of communicative rationality
social theory
discourse ethics
political theory
A Brief Outline of Programmes 1 and 2
The function of speech is to elicit rational consensus.
‘reaching understanding inhabits human speech as its telos’ (TCA
1 287). Validity =‘internal connection with reasons’ (TCA1: 9, 301).
There are three kinds of validity claim – to truth, to rightness, and
to truthfulness.
VALIDITY
TRUTH
RIGHTNESS
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TRUTHFULNESS
Discourse:
Discourse arises with a challenge issued by the hearer to the speaker to make good her validity
claim. There are three types of validity claim (truth, rightness and truthfulness) and three
corresponding types of discourse, theoretical, moral and aesthetic.
DISCOURSE
THEORETICAL
MORALPRACTICAL
AESTHETIC
Communicative rationality versus Instrumental and strategic
rationality.
Instrumental and strategic actions are aimed at success, and at
achieving success,
Success is achieved via a causal intervention the world.
Summary of The Theory of Communicative Rationality
Basic questions: What are the fundamental types of action?
What is the difference between them? Which type is prior or more
fundamental? In virtue of what?
Basic answers: There are two types of action: communicative
action on the one hand, instrumental and strategic action on the
other. The difference is that communicative actions aim at securing
understanding and consensus, while instrumental and strategic
actions aim at practical success. Communicative action is the more
fundamental because it is self-standing; instrumental and strategic
action are not.
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3. The programme of social theory
Habermas’s Social Ontology
Communicative Action
Instrumental/Strategic Action
Lifeworld
System
e.g. family, public sphere
Money (economy) Power (state)
Basic questions: What are modern societies like? Of what are
they made?
Basic answers: Modern societies are made up out of two kinds of
social being – the lifeworld and the system. The lifeworld is the
home of communication and discourse. The system is the home of
instrumental and strategic actions.
Critical Social Theory
Basic questions: What is the underlying cause of the pathologies
of modern social life?
Basic answers: Systems – markets and administrations –
expand and colonize the lifeworld, the home of communicative
action and discourse on which they themselves depend. People are
forced into patterns of ecomically or administratively induced
instrumental and strategic action, in spheres of what Habermas
calls ‘norm free sociality’.
Conclusion: The lifeworld needs to be kept intact, and the ill-effects of systems intrusion
into non-system domains, the marketisation of spheres of sociality
that were formerly not market driven, must be mitigated.
4. The programme of discourse ethics
i)
The discourse theory of morality
Habermas has a theory about the social function of morality.
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The discourse principle (D), states that:
Only those action norms are valid to which all possibly affected
persons could agree as participants in rational discourse. (BFN
107)
The moral, principle (U) (for Universalisation) states:
(U) a norm is valid if and only if the foreseeable consequences and
side effects of its general observance for the interests and valueorientations of each individual could be freely and jointly accepted
by all affected. (TIO 42)
Basic questions: How is moral order possible? What makes an
action morally right or wrong? How do we know, and how do we
learn, what is right/wrong?
Basic answers: Moral order rests on the existence of
demonstrably valid norms and the fact that most agents are
disposed to adhere to them. What makes an action right/wrong is
that it is permitted/prohibited by a valid moral norm. What makes
a norm valid is that it demonstrably embodies a universal interest.
We find out whether this is the case by testing candidate norms for
their capacity to elicit rational agreement in moral discourse.
ii) ethics
Basic questions: What is distinctive about ethical as opposed to
moral questions? What is the social and political significance of
ethical questions?
Basic answers: Ethical discourse concerns questions of
individual happiness and the good of communities. Ethical
discourse involves critical appropriation of traditions and the
interpretation of values.
5. The programme of political theory
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1)
Habermas’s Conception of Politics: The ‘Two-Track’
Structure of Politics
Formal sphere = institutional arenas of communication and
discourse designed to take decisions, E.g. parliaments, cabinets,
elected assemblies and political parties. N.B. not identicial with the
state.
The informal political sphere = not institutionalised and not
designed to take decisions e.g. ‘civil society’, voluntary
organisations, political associations and the media etc..
ii.
Human Rights and Popular Sovereignty
H’s conception of political community combines central ideas of
liberal-democracy and civic republicanism.
liberal democracy and the idea of human rights,
civic republicanism on the idea of popular sovereignty.
a.
Human Rights
Govt. must respect the rights of and the private autonomy of the
individual.
b.
Popular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty is the idea that the political authority of
the state resides ultimately in the will of the people.
c.
The Equiprimordiality and Reciprocity of the Two Ideas
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Habemras argues that human rights and popular sovereignty are
equiprimordial and reciprocal, i.e., that neither comes first, and
that each mutually depends on the other.
Politics is the expression of ‘the freedom that springs
simultaneously from the subjectivity of the individual and the
sovereignty of the people.’ (BFN 468)
Habermas denies three key liberal assumptions:
 that rights belong to pre-political individuals;
 that membership in the political community is valuable
merely as a means to safeguard individual freedom;
 that the state should remain neutral in respect of the
justification of its policies or laws, where neutrality implies
avoiding appeal to values and ethical considerations.
Habermas rejects three key civic republican assumptions:
 that the state should embody the values of the political
community
 that participation in the community is the realisation of these
values;
 that subjective rights derive from and depend on the ethical
self-understanding of the community
“Popular sovereignty is not embodied in a collective subject, or a
body politic on the model of an assembly of all citizens, it resides in
‘“subjectless” forms of communication and discourse circulating
through forums and legislative bodies.’ (BFN 136)
Formal political institutions must be open to open to the “input
from below” so that their decisions, policies and laws will be tend
to be rational and to find acceptance. This is where the system of
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rights comes in. Habermas argues that ‘the system of rights states
the conditions under which the forms of communication necessary
for the genesis of legitimate law can be legally institutionalised.’
(BFN 103)
2)
Politics and the Form of Law
Between Facts and Norms, literally translated would be Facticity
and Validity.
i.
The Dual Structure of Law
A law is legitimate when it has a point, or when there are
appreciable reasons for obeying it.
A law is positive when it is laid down or imposed by some
lawmaker (and coercible when it can be).
Laws have a third feature too: they must be coercible.
A legal norm is valid only when all these components are present.
ii.
The Legitimacy of Law
Habermas formulates his notion of legitimacy in the principle of
democracy. The democratic principle states that:
Only those laws count as legitimate to which all members of
the legal community can assent in a discursive process of
legislation that has in turn been legally constituted. (BFN
110)
The democratic principle arises from the ‘interpenetration’ of
principle (D) and the legal form.
According to (D), amenability to consensus is a mark of the
validity of a norm. The mark of a norm’s legitimacy is this:
Legitimate laws have to be able to win the assent of all members of
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the legal community, not as outcome of a rational discourse of all
concerned, but of a legally constituted process of legislation. In
other words, if all members of the legal community can assent to a
norm that is produced by a formal decision-making body which
incorporates deliberation and discourse, is open to input from civil
society, and conforms with a legally instituted the system of rights,
then the norm is legitimate.
i) The discourse theory of politics
Basic questions: How is a well-ordered political system
possible? What makes laws, policies, and political decisions
legitimate?
Basic answers: A well-ordered political system is one in which
the right balance between private and public autonomy is achieved
and in which political order is stabilized to a large degree by
rational decisions produced by institutions that are sensitive to the
informal public spheres of civil society. Laws are legitimate only if
they are in tune with the opinions, values, and norms generated
discursively in civil society.
ii) The discourse theory of law
Basic questions: What is a valid law? What is the role of valid
legal norms?
Basic answers: A valid law is a law that is positive, enforceable,
and legitimate. Legitimate laws must be consistent with moral,
ethical, and pragmatic considerations and serve the good of the
legal community. Valid legal norms authorize and implement
political power. They support moral norms, help to harmonize
individual action and to establish social order.
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