Jürgen Habermas
A rule is just if everyone it affects could accept it in a free discussion.
Life
Jürgen Habermas (1929-2026), born in Düsseldorf, was a German philosopher and sociologist, heir to the Frankfurt School, who taught for many years at Frankfurt. His theory of communicative action starts from the idea that speaking to someone already claims reasons valid for everyone. From it he draws a discourse ethics: a norm is valid only if everyone it affects could accept it in a free debate. He also wrote on democracy, law and the place of religion in the public sphere.
Main works
A history of the bourgeois public sphere and its decline under the mass media.
Rationality lies in the exchange of arguments between people seeking mutual understanding.
Presents discourse ethics and its principles (D) and (U).
Legitimate law arises from democratic deliberation.
In his own words
« Only those norms can claim to be valid that meet (or could meet) with the approval of all in their capacity as participants in a practical discourse. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe describes his own approach as 'methodologically atheist': philosophy does not rely on God, though he respects what religious traditions can teach.
Habermas, Between Naturalism and Religion (2005)
A norm is valid only if everyone affected could accept it in a free and fair discussion (discourse ethics).
Habermas, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (1983)
Moral claims can be rationally justified and have universal validity, though through argument rather than a hidden moral reality.
Habermas, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (1983)
Public justification must rest on reasons all can share; religious contents count once translated into such reasons.
Habermas, Between Naturalism and Religion (2005)