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34Re-Presenting the Good SocietyMIT Press. 2006.Contemporary critical social theories face the question of how to justify the ideas of the good society that guide their critical analyses. Traditionally, these more or less determinate ideas of the good society were held to be independent of their specific sociocultural context and historical epoch. Today, such a concept of context-transcending validity is not easy to defend; the "linguistic turn" of Western philosophy signals the widespread acceptance of the view that ideas of knowledge and va…Read more
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29Ethics and politics in the AnthropocenePhilosophy and Social Criticism 46 (10): 1167-1181. 2020.The most fundamental challenge facing humans today is the imminent destruction of the life-generating and life-sustaining ecosystems that constitute the planet Earth. There is considerable evidence...
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27The Limits of Learning: Habermas' Social Theory and ReligionEuropean Journal of Philosophy 24 (3): 694-711. 2014.Habermas' view that contemporary philosophy and social theory can learn from religious traditions calls for closer consideration. He is correct to hold that religious traditions constitute a reservoir of potentially important meanings that can be critically appropriated without emptying them of their motivating and inspirational power. However, contrary to what he implies, his theory allows for learning from religion only to a very limited degree. This is due to two core elements of his conceptu…Read more
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26Social theory as critical theory: Horkheimer's program and its relevance todayConstellations 30 (4): 384-389. 2023.Constellations, EarlyView.
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26The Weaknesses of Strong IntersubjectivismEuropean Journal of Political Theory 2 (3): 281-305. 2003.The article deals with Habermas's intersubjective approach to critical social theory, focusing on his intersubjective accounts of truth, justice and democratic legitimacy. Distinguishing between stronger and weaker versions of an intersubjective account, it draws attention to Habermas's recent move from a strong intersubjective, constructivist, interpretation of truth to a weaker, non-constructivist, one. It then looks at his refusal to make a similar move in the case of justice, arguing that it…Read more
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26Higher goods and common goods: Strong evaluation in social lifePhilosophy and Social Criticism 44 (7): 767-770. 2018.
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25Existentially lived truth or communicative reason? Habermas’ critique of KierkegaardConstellations 28 (1): 51-59. 2021.
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24Book Review: Civil Disobedience, by William Scheuerman (review)Political Theory 47 (4): 589-594. 2019.
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24Book Review: Civil Disobedience, by William Scheuerman (review)Political Theory 47 (4): 589-594. 2019.
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22Decentring critical theory with the help of critical theory: Ecocide and the challenge of anthropocentricismPhilosophy and Social Criticism. forthcoming.Our present situation of anthropogenic ecological disaster calls on Western philosophy in general, and Frankfurt School critical theory in particular, to reconsider some long-standing, entrenched assumptions concerning what it means to be a human agent and to relate to other agents. In my article, I take up the challenge in dialogue with the idea of critical theory articulated by Max Horkheimer in the 1930s. My overall concern is to contribute to on-going efforts to decentre Frankfurt School cri…Read more
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19Meaning and Truth in Habermas's PragmaticsEuropean Journal of Philosophy 9 (1): 1-23. 2001.The article examines Habermas’s formal‐pragmatic theory of meaning from the point of view of his attempt to defend a postmetaphysical yet context‐transcendent conception of validity. It considers his attempt to develop a pragmatic account of understanding utterances that emphasises the mediation of knowledge through socio‐cultural practices while simultaneously stressing that understanding has a cognitive dimension that is inherently context‐transcendent. It focuses on his recent “Janus‐faced” c…Read more
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18On the Pragmatics of Communication (edited book)MIT Press. 1998.Jürgen Habermas's program in formal pragmatics fulfills two main functions. First, it serves as the theoretical underpinning for his theory of communicative action, a crucial element in his theory of society. Second, it contributes to ongoing philosophical discussion of problems concerning meaning, truth, rationality, and action. By the "pragmatic" dimensions of language, Habermas means those pertaining specifically to the employment of sentences in utterances. He makes clear that "formal" is to…Read more
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17Reenvisioning Freedom: Human Agency in Times of Ecological DisasterConstellations 30 (2): 119-127. 2023.Constellations, EarlyView.
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16Immanent Critique of the Immanent Frame: The Critical Potential of A Secular AgeInternational Journal of Philosophical Studies 29 (5): 738-758. 2021.Charles Taylor’s method of philosophical argumentation is distinctive, interlacing historical, ontological, phenomenological, hermeneutical, theistic, and ethical strands. His writings contribute t...
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16Unintelligible! Inaccessible! Unacceptable! Are religious truth claims a problem for liberal democracies?Philosophy and Social Criticism 43 (4-5): 442-452. 2017.In liberal democracies it is now a commonplace that public debates in the institutionalized political sphere should involve only arguments and reasons that are in principle intelligible, accessible and acceptable to all citizens. Many political theorists take the view that religious arguments and reasons do not meet these requirements. My article interrogates this widely held position, considering each of the three requirements in turn. Motivating my discussion is the view that religious beliefs…Read more
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15La verdad en la ficción narrativa: Kafka, Adorno y más alláSignos Filosóficos 17 (34). 2015.La ficción narrativa tiene el poder de alterar nuestras más arraigadas intuiciones y expectativas acerca de lo que significa seguir una vida éticamente buena, así como del tipo de sociedad que facilitaría tal situación. A veces su poder disruptivo es develador, lo cual lleva a un cambio éticamente significativo en la percepción. Sostengo que los poderes disruptivos y develadores de una ficción narrativa constituyen un potencial para el conocimiento ético. Interpreto este conocimiento como un pro…Read more
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14Constellations, EarlyView.
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13Translating truthPhilosophy and Social Criticism 37 (4): 479-491. 2011.The article considers the role of translation in encounters between religious citizens and secular citizens. It follows Habermas in holding that translations rearticulate religious contents in a way that facilitates learning. Since he underplays the complexities of translation, it takes some steps beyond Habermas towards developing a more adequate account. Its main thesis is that the required account of translation must keep sight of the question of truth. Focusing on inspirational stories of ex…Read more
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12Freiheit neu vorstellen: menschliches Handlungsvermögen in Zeiten der ökologischen KatastropheDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 71 (2): 178-193. 2023.I address the question of human agency from the perspective of critical social theory, starting from the premise that, today, such theories must focus on the global ecological disaster. I assume, furthermore, that radical societal change is necessary in order to arrest our current disastrous ecological trajectory. Radical societal change calls for a fundamental re-orientation in values globally, on both an individual and collective level. This entails a thorough-going change in perceptions of wh…Read more
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10Feminism and JusticeIn Joseph Dunne, Attracta Ingram, Frank Litton & Fergal O'Connor (eds.), Questioning Ireland: Debates in Political Philosophy and Public Policy, Institute of Public Administration. pp. 124. 2000.
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10Philosophy and the Social Sciences: Reflections on a MeetingPhilosophy and Social Criticism 43 (3): 260-261. 2017.
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10Book reviews (review)Humana Mente 5 (3): 449-491. 1997.New Books on Philosophy of Religion Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim that God Speaks By Nicholas Wolterstorff, Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. 326. ISBN 0–521–47557–0. $18.95. The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith: The Incamational Narrative as History By C. Stephen Evans, Oxford University Press, 1996. Pp. 386. ISBN 0–19–826397‐X $17.95. Consciousness and the Mind of God By Charles Taliaferro, Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 349. ISBN 0–521–46173–1. $6…Read more
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9Editors’ introduction to the Special Section: The ethics and politics of the AnthropoceneConstellations 30 (2): 105-107. 2023.Constellations, EarlyView.
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8Postkonventionelle Selbst Verwirklichung: Überlegungen zur praktischen SubjektivitätDeutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 42 (1): 61-72. 1994.
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8Changing hearts and minds: Cristina Lafont on democratic self-legislationPhilosophy and Social Criticism 47 (1): 58-61. 2020.Lafont argues for a participatory version of deliberative democracy that shares key features with other contemporary approaches, while departing from them in decisive ways. It is based on the Rouss...