Means & Ends (was Re: Ethical foundations of the left)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>Some people have faith in liberalism (grounded in communication as
>>reason-giving with freedom, equality, & fairness in the case of
>>Habermas).  For all his loud protestation in favor of the rights &
>>liberties of liberal democracy, Justin isn't one of them, being too
>>worldly for faith of the sort preached by Ken.
>
>It's mainly _because_ I am fairly suspicious of the way human beings 
>act in social and political situations that I believe in liberal 
>rights and freedoms. Us libs think we need them to keep us out of 
>each other's faces and off each other's backs. --jks

We can put it more strongly.  We can't even defend the existing 
rights & liberties -- not to mention establish them where such do not 
yet exist -- by trying to put Habermas's philosophy into practice. 
Means and ends do not always coincide in politics; rather, they 
generally diverge as a matter of fact, and coincidence is an 
exception in class society, especially under capitalism.  We can't 
bring about a classless society by behaving as if we already lived in 
one.  A Machiavellian lesson.

Yoshie