[lit-ideas] Re: Euthyphro & Habermas
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:26:31 -0800 (PST)
--- wokshevs@xxxxxx wrote:
> Fascinating. Habermas is one of the greatest Kantian
> philosophers alive today.
> What is it about his writings that would help put
> somebody to sleep? (I assume
> that's the relevant sleep disorder you have in
> mind.) In other words, what kind
> of philosophical interests in the area of practical
> reason would one have to
> have in order to find Habermas soporifically
> uninteresting?
> Cheers, Walter
*Well, I for one don't see how the Kantian distinction
between public and private reason, as presented in
What is Englightenment, has any usefulness to
understanding or evaluating moral actions. How does it
make sense to posit that an officer commanding
thousands of men is acting as 'a private individual'
while on duty, but as a public individual when he is
writing a letter to a newspaper. Or a priest giving a
sermon to hundreds is acting as 'a private
individual,' while he is being a public personality
when he expresses his views in some other venue. The
distinction between public and private morality seems
to boil down to saying that one needs to switch off
his moral conscience when doing the job he is paid
for. Such a separation seems to me to be akin to
hypocrisy, and understandably difficult to impose on
any moral paradigm (including religious) that takes
itself seriously. Walter and Phil will no doubt
correct me on this, although I have to say that I am
less interested in a long lecture on what Kant or
Habermas really wanted to say and where, and more in
how these ideas are pertinent.
O.K.
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