Between measurability and immeasurability : the politics of care in Habermas and Derrida

Ganis, R

Abstract

This study considers whether the tradition of moral universalism is correct to dissociate
the asymmetrical perspective of "care" from the principle of impartial treatment for all
or whether there is in fact a legitimate and indeed necessary place for the care
perspective when addressing questions of universal justice. In examining this question,
the study utilises the writings of Jiirgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida as a
philosophical backdrop, according particular attention to each thinker's engagement
with the principle of "measure." It notes that unlike Derrida, Habermas sets forth a
categorical distinction between instrumental measure (oriented towards the world of
objects) and noninstrumental measure (appropriate to the realm of the social). From
this vantage point, not every effort to "count" is as injurious to "difference" as Derrida
alleges. In fact, in distinguishing "communicative reason" from "instrumental reason,"
Habermas is able to envisage a type of measurable equality that is facilitative of human
flourishing rather than a hindrance to it. In failing to bifurcate the principle of measure
in these terms, Derrida's deconstructive care ethics invites the prospect of not only
moral relativism but also of a "re-enchanted" conception of nature and the knowledge
of nature.
The thesis appeals to the dialogue that the two thinkers have initiated in an
effort to lay the groundwork for a reconstructed critical theory that is more
accommodative of the gesture of unlimited care for a single unrepresentable individual than Habermas's discourse-ethical project has being willing to countenance. Yet in so
doing, it is at pains to assure that such an intervention does not undermine the
categorical primacy accorded to universalistic moral rights and duties in the
philosophical tradition of Kant. Although it finds the recognition theory advanced by
Axel Honneth to be encumbered by a number of conceptual difficulties, the thesis
positions Honneth's framework as a promising launching point for such a
reconstruction.

Citation

Ganis, R. Between measurability and immeasurability : the politics of care in Habermas and Derrida. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2009