Ethical foundations of the left

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Tue Jul 31 13:19:26 PDT 2001


Kenneth MacKendrick wrote:
> > Derrida and Foucault are just fooling around. Habermas doesn't like it and
> > thinks it conservative, but his real worry is a return to slaughter,
> > anti-humanism, and destruction. He sees kernels of this in each and every
> > vindication of irrational thought, and he defends a theory of rationality -
> > which if even the smallest pinprick were to be taken seriously - would make
> > the devastation which has become common, unthinkable.

Miles Jackson:
> In fact, the implementation of "rationality" in actual human life, like
> religious beliefs, has led to a great deal of misery in human history.
> Every modern nation-state requires a regime of rational, calculated
> bureaucratic procedures; every multinational corporation is in fact
> a paradigm of action based on rational calculation. To say that the
> problems we face in the world today--massive maldistribution of
> resources, exploitation of labor, environmental abuse--can be resolved
> by creating a universal "theory of rationality" seems hopeful at
> best. I would argue, contra JH, that it is the universalization of
> rationality in everyday life settings--work, school, prison, govt--
> that is a crucial component of the various forms of inequality and
> domination we see in the world today.

Habermas must mean, by "rationality", something complete different from logic or _ratio_, if he thinks it's any defense against evil. Perhaps it's a religious concept?



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