Talk:Universal pragmatics

message: JA: Formal pragmatics is a term that was already in use in the 1960's, at least.  If the UP crowd wants to crowd under that umbrella, then they will have to learn to share it with those who are already there.  Hence my slightly contorted rephrasing of the first sentence.  Jon Awbrey 06:54, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Formal pragmatics 

message: Hey, what is the status of this collaborative project. I'd like to join. First I'd say that Habermas officially regretted using the term "universal" pragmatics, and in a foot-note to the 1979 English translation of the essay "what is universal pragmatics" stated a preference for the term "formal pragmatics." I suggest we change the title of this page to that. 
Offerings:
	I agree that there should be a large section on the methodology of rational reconstruction, here are my thoughts, if you like them feel free to cut and paste them int the article: 
 
=== rational reconstruction ===
First some Habermas:
"Once it has renounced its claim to be a first science or an encyclopedia, philosophy can maintain its status within the scientific system neither by assimilating itself to particular exemplary sciences nor by the exclusive distancing of itself from science in general.  Philosophy has to implicate itself in the fallibilistic self-understanding and procedural rationality of the empirical sciences; it may not lay claim to a privileged access to truth, or to a method, an object realm, or even just a style of intuition that is specifically its own. Only thus can philosophy contribute its best to a nonexclusive division of labor, namely, its persistent tenacity in posing questions universalistically, and its procedure of rationally reconstructing the intuitive pre-theoretical knowledge of competently speaking, acting and judging subjects….This dowry recommends philosophy as an indispensable partner in the collaboration of those who are concerned with [the progress of reason, knowledge and truth]. (Habermas, 1992)"
	
What is especially useful and interesting about Habermas’s rendering of this issue is that he specifically names the task that he sees as appropriate for philosophy.  This is a type of formal analysis he calls rational reconstruction. This mode of philosophical reflection can be compared to procedures traditionally taken up in philosophy and is concerned with the questions traditionally posed. That is, rational reconstruction involves making explicit and theoretically systematizing the universal and inescapable conditions for the possibility of certain types of phenomena. Put more specifically, it can be said that rational reconstruction is a manner of explicating the deep generative structures that give rise to and allow for particular performances, behaviors, and other symbolically pre-structured realities (Habermas, 1998a). 
	
Rational reconstruction is limited to the analysis of symbolically pre-structured realities because it is a procedure that is intimately tied to the interpretation of reality as opposed to its description. So, while the natural sciences generate theoretical knowledge about the general structures of an observable reality, rational reconstructions (sometimes called the reconstructive sciences) generate a theoretical knowledge of the deep structures of a reality accessible only through interpretation (Habermas, 1998a). Some questions cannot be dealt with through the process of rational reconstruction, but an extremely broad range of questions can be.  It is hard to point out a phenomenon that is not in some way symbolically pre-structured, that is without some meaning to someone. 
	
While the meaning of any phenomenon must in some way be generated, and the interpretation of symbols is dependent upon intelligence, the bestowal of meaning is not arbitrary.  Rational reconstruction attempts to make clear the underlying processes that generate particular meanings. It is concerned with the deep structures of intelligence that generate the knowledge, judgments and actions of subjects as well as the meaning, import and validity of objects.  Because of this, those sciences that systematically explicate the intuitive knowledge of competent subjects by reconstructing the pre-theoretical know-how of certain human capabilities can be seen as representative of this procedure of rational reconstruction (Habermas, 1998a).
	
Habermas suggests along these lines that “we can distinguish between know-how, the ability of a competent subject who understands how to produce or accomplish something, and know-that, the explicit knowledge of how it is that he is able to do so” (1998a). This should be understood in the context of rational reconstruction as two levels of the explication of meaning, two ways of understanding a symbolically pre-structured reality. The difference between the two levels is, in Habermas’s terms, the content and the intuitively master rule-consciousness that allows for it, or in other terms, surface structures and deep structures.  It is worth quoting Habermas at length to clarify this.  Here he is discussing these two levels of analysis as applied to the interpretation of a text:
"…the understanding of content pursues the connections that link the surface structures of an incomprehensible [symbolic] formation with surface structures, of other, familiar formations. Thus, linguistic expressions can be explicated through paraphrase in the same language [etc.]…. If she cannot attain her end in this way, the interpreter may find it necessary to alter her attitude.  She then exchanges the attitude of understanding content (directed towards surface structures)…for an attitude in which she focuses on the generative structures of the expressions themselves.  The interpreter then attempts to explicate the meaning of a symbolic formation with the help of the rules according to which the author must have produced it….The attitude changes as soon as the interpreter tries not only to apply the intuitive knowledge of speakers but to reconstruct it.  She then turns away from the surface structure of the symbolic formation….She attempts instead to peer into the symbolic formation- penetrating through the surface as it were- in order to discover the rules according to which this symbolic formation was produced….The object of understanding is no longer the content…but the intuitive rule consciousness….(Habermas, 1998a)."
	
Furthermore, following this distinction between surface and deep structures, Habermas views the task of the reconstructive sciences as moving in two directions, horizontal and vertical. The “horizontal” direction seeks to reconstruct fundamental and important competencies, while the “vertical” direction seeks to reconstruct the (genetic) logic of the development of these competencies. So there are surface structures and deep structures related to competencies and sub-competencies, and these are teased apart and reconstructed by engaging two distinct modes of understanding symbolically pre-structured realities.
	
This should clarify what it is that rational reconstructions seek to accomplish. It should also be said that the results of systematized reconstructions claim to explicate  “universal capabilities and not merely the particular competencies of individual groups” (Habermas, 1998a). The theoretical claims of such rational reconstructions have the status of general theories of human competencies and behavior. “When the pre-theoretical knowledge to be reconstructed expresses a universal capability, a general cognitive, linguistic, or interactive competence (or sub-competence), then what begins as an explication of meaning aims at the reconstruction of species competencies” (Habermas, 1998a).
	
These kinds of rational reconstructions are notably different than the purely philosophical but comparable solutions and methods offered up as definitive answers to such issues in the past.  Kant’s transcendental analysis sought to deduce the categorical framework that structured and determined experience. Hegel’s dialectic sought to systematize the process of knowing, fitting each stage of insight as a defined moment to be subsumed in the development of Absolute Knowledge. These great systems were conceived as being a-priori, inescapably generative of all experience and knowledge, and they were understood to be factual, to be the truth.  Habermas sees rational reconstruction as a similar, but less grandiose, undertaking:
"Marked down in price the transcendental and dialectical modes of justification may still come in handy.  All they can fairly be expected to furnish, however, is reconstructive hypotheses for use in empirical settings….[Rational reconstructions are] fallibilistic in orientation, they reject the dubious faith in philosophy’s ability to do things single handedly, hoping instead that the success that has for so long eluded it might come from an auspicious matching of different theoretical fragments (Habermas, 1990a)."
Furthermore:
"….[In rational reconstruction] the distinction between drawing on a-priori knowledge and drawing on a-posteriori knowledge becomes blurred.  On the one hand, the rule consciousness [i.e. intuitive know-how] of competent subjects is for them an a-priori knowledge; on the other hand, the reconstruction of this calls for inquiries undertaken with empirical [methods] (Habermas, 1998a)."
In this respect Habermas sees those theorists whose projects represented a blend of philosophy and scientific methods as important exemplars. He identifies Freud, Durkhiem, Mead, Weber, Piaget, Chomsky and Kohlberg as those who “inserted a genuinely philosophical idea like a detonator into a particular context of research…[initiating] paradigms in which a philosophical idea is present in embryo while at the same time empirical, yet universal, questions are being posed” (1990b).  These theorists approximated the ideal division of labor between philosophy and science that Habermas understands as crucial for progress to be achieved across disciplines; the human sciences in particular represent fertile ground for such cooperation.  
And on other things: 
 
=== Formal Pragmatics of Communication ===
There are a number of ways to approach Habermas’s project of developing a formal pragmatic analysis of communication.  Because Habermas developed it in order to have a normative and philosophical foundation for his critical social theory most of the inroads into formal pragmatics start from sociology, specifically with what is called action theory.  This concerns the nature of human action, especially the manner in which collective actions are coordinated in the functioning of societies.  The coordination and integration of social action has been explained in many ways by many theories.  Rational choice theory and game theory are two examples, which describe the integration of individuals into social groups by detailing the complex manner in which individuals motivated only by self-interest will form mutually beneficial and cooperative social arrangements.  In contrast to these Habermas has formulated a theory of communicative action (1984; 1987).  This theory and the project of developing a formal pragmatic analysis of communication are inseparable. 
	
Habermas makes a series of complex conceptual incisions in the service of dissecting the phenomenon of social action.  I’m going to cover these quickly in order to get to the details of his rational reconstruction of the deep structures of communication.  The first major conceptual incision differentiates two social realms, the system and the lifeworld.  These designate two distinct modes of social integration. The kind of social integration accomplished in the system is accomplished through the functional integration of action consequences.  It bypasses the consciousness of individuals and does not depend upon their being oriented towards acting collectively.  Economic and industrial systems are great examples, often producing complex forms of social integration and interdependence despite the openly competitive orientations of individuals.  The social integration accomplished in the lifeworld, by contrast, depends upon the coordination of action plans and the conscious action-orientations of individuals.  It relies on processes of human interaction involving symbolic and cultural forms of meaning.  More specifically, as Habermas maintains, the coordination of the lifeworld is accomplished through communicative action.  
	
Thus, communicative action is an indispensable facet of society.  It is at the heart of the lifeworld and is, Habermas claims, responsible for accomplishing several fundamental social functions: reaching understating, cultural reproduction, coordinating action-plans and socializing individuals.  However, Habermas is quick to note, different modes of interaction can (in some ways) facilitate these social functions and achieve integration within the lifeworld. This points towards the second key conceptual incision Habermas makes, which differentiates communicative action from strategic action; the coordination of action plans, which constitutes the social integration of the lifeworld, can be accomplished either through consensus or influence.
	
Strategic action is action oriented towards success, while communicative action is action oriented towards understanding.  Both involve the symbolic resources of the lifeworld and occur primarily by way of linguistic interaction.  On the one hand, actors employing communicative actions draw on the uniquely impelling force of mutual understanding to align the orientation of their action plans.  It is this subtle but insistent binding force of communicative interactions that opens the door to an understanding of their deep structures.   On the other hand, actors employing strategic actions do not exploit the potential of communication that resides in the mutual recognition of a shared action-orientating understanding.  Instead strategic actors relate to others with no intention of reaching consensus or mutual understanding, but only the intention of accomplishing pre-determined ends.  Strategic action often involves the use of communicative actions to achieve the isolated intentions of individuals, manipulating shared understanding in the service of private interests.  Thus, Habermas claims, strategic action is parasitic on communicative action, which means communicative action is the primary mode of linguistic interaction.  Reaching a reciprocally defined understanding is communication’s basic function.  
	
Keeping in mind this oversimplified (on my part, not Habermas’s) delineation of the object domain the formal pragmatics of communication can be more readily laid out.  The essential insight has already been mentioned, which is that communication is responsible for irreplaceable modes of social integration (among other things) and this is accomplished through the unique binding force of a shared understanding.  This is, in a sense, the pragmatic piece of formal pragmatics: communication does something in the world.  What needs to be explained are the conditions for the possibility of what communication already does.  This is, in a sense, the formal piece of formal pragmatics: a rational reconstruction of the deep generative structures that are the universal conditions for the possibility of a binding and compelling mutual understanding.   
	
This is where it becomes complex, because Habermas heads the analysis in two directions (1998).  In one direction is a kind of linguistic (speech act) analysis, which can be placed under the heading of the validity dimensions of communication.   The other direction entails an intriguing categorization of the idealized presuppositions of communication.  I will take these one at a time.  I’m going to simply explain Habermas’s position and not even attempt to make reference to the thinkers that inspired his project.   Furthermore, this should be understood as a cursory explanation of a very complex system of thought.  I am trying only to divulge the general direction of Habermas’s project, not attempting to defend it or give a definitive rendering of it.  
=== The Validity Dimensions of Communication ===
Habermas claims that communication rests upon a de-centered understanding of the world, which is an idea he borrowed from Piaget. A subject capable of a de-centered understanding can take up three fundamentally different attitudes to the world.  As Cooke (who has provided the only book length treatment of Habermas' communication theory) explains: “when we adopt an objectifying attitude we relate, in the first instance to the objective world of facts and existing states of affairs [IT]; when we adopt a norm-conformative attitude we relate, in the first instance, to the social world of normatively regulated interactions [WE]; when we adopt an expressive attitude we relate, in the first instance to the subjective world of inner experience [ I ]” (Cooke, 1994). 
Another way Habermas states the same notion is by making reference to the idea of validity dimensions.  The basic idea is that individuals have the ability to differentiate between at least three dimensions of validity.  Specifically, this means individuals can recognize that the validation of an empirical truth claim requires different methods and procedures then the validation of subjective truthfulness, and that both of those require different methods and procedures of validation than claims to normative rightness.  These dimensions of validity can be summarized as claims to truth (IT), truthfulness (I), and rightness (WE). So the ability to differentiate between the attitudes (and their respective “worlds”) mentioned above should be understood as an ability to distinguish between types of validity claims. 
This is fundamental to Habermas’s analysis of communication.   He maintains that the performance of any speech act necessarily makes reference to these dimensions of validity, by raising at least three validity claims. One way to grasp this idea is to take an inventory of the ways in which an attempt at communication can misfire, the ways a speech act can fail.  A hearer may reject the offering of a speech act on the grounds that it is invalid because it: 1) presupposes or explicates states of affairs which are not the case (IT); 2) does not conform to accepted normative expectations (WE); 3) raises doubts about the intensions or sincerity of the speaker (I).  Of course from this it follows that if a hearer accepts the offering of a speech act they do so on the grounds that it is valid because it: 1) presupposes or explicates states of affairs that are true (IT); 2) conforms to accepted normative expectations (WE); (3) raises no doubts concerning the intensions or sincerity of the speaker (I). This means that when engaging in communication the speaker and hearer are inescapably oriented to the validity of what is said.  A speech act can be understood as an offering, the success or failure of which depends upon the hearer’s response of either accepting or rejecting the validity claims it raises.  The three dimensions of validity pointed out above are implicated in any attempt at communication.
Thus, communication relies on its being embedded within relations to various dimensions of validity.  Any and every speech act is infused with intersubjectively recognized claims to be valid.  This implicitly ties communication to argumentation and various discursive procedures for the redemption of validity claims. Because to raise a validity claim in communication is to undertake to show, if challenged, that this claim is justified.  Communication is possible because a speaker is accountable for the validity of what they say.  This assumption of responsibility on the part of the speaker is described by Habermas as a “warranty”.  It is described as a warranty because in most cases the validity claims raised during communication are taken as justified, and communication proceeds unproblematically on that basis.  Similarly, the hearer is accountable for the stance they take up in relation to the validity claims raised by the speaker.  Both speaker and hearer are bound to the validity claims raised by the utterances they share during communication. They are bond by the weak obligations inherent in pursing actions oriented towards reaching an understanding.  Habermas would claim that this obligation is a rational one:
"With every speech act, by virtue of the validity claims it raises, the speaker enters into an interpersonal relationship of mutual obligation with the hearer: The speaker is obliged to support her claims with reasons, if challenged, and the hearer is obliged to accept a claim unless he has good reason not to do so.  The obligation in question is, in the first instance, not a moral one but a rational one- the penalty of failure to fulfill it is the charge not of immorality but of irrationality- although clearly the two will often overlap (Cooke, 1994)."
This begins to point towards the idea of communicative rationality, which is the potential for rationality that is implicit in the validity basis of everyday communication, the shape of reason that can be extracted from Habermas’s formal-pragmatic analyses. 
 
"The modern- decentered- understanding of the world has opened up different dimensions of validity; to the extent that each dimension of validity has its own standards of truth and falsity and its own modes of justification for determining these, one may say that what has been opened up are dimensions of rationality (Cooke, 1994)."
However, before the idea of communicative rationality can be described the other direction of Habermas’s formal pragmatic analyses of communication needs to be explained.  This direction looks towards the idealized presuppositions of communication.  
=== The Idealized Presuppositions of Communication ===
I have explained that when individuals pursue actions oriented towards reaching an understating the speech acts they exchange take on the weight of a mutually recognized validity.  This means each actor involved in communication takes the other as accountable for what they have said, which implies that good reasons could be given by all to justify the validity of the understanding that is being achieved.  Again, in most situations the redemption of validity claims is not an explicit undertaking (except in discourses, see below).  Instead, each actor issues a “warranty” of accountability to the other, which only needs to be redeemed if certain validity claims are thrown into question.  This suggests that the validity claims raised in every communicative interaction implicitly tie communication to argumentation.  
It is here that the idealized presuppositions of communication arise.  Habermas claims that all forms of argumentation, even implicit and rudimentary ones, rest upon certain “idealizing suppositions,” which are rooted in the very structures of action oriented towards understanding.  These “strong idealizations” are always understood as at least approximately satisfied by participants in situations where argumentation (and communication) is thought to be taking place.  Thus, when during communication it is discovered that the belief that these presuppositions are satisfied is not justified it is always taken as problematic.  As a result, steps are usually taken to reestablish and maintain the belief that they are approximately satisfied, or communication is simply called off. 
The most basic of these idealized presuppositions is the presupposition that participants in communicative exchange are using the same linguistic expressions in the same way.  This is an obvious but interesting point, which clearly illustrates what an idealized presupposition is.  It’s a presupposition because communication would not proceed if those involved did not think it was at least approximately satisfied (in this case that a shared language was being used).  It’s idealized because no matter how closely it is approximated it is always counterfactual (because, in this case, the fact is that all meanings are to some degree personally defined).  Another, basic idealized presupposition of argumentation is the presupposition that no relevant argument is suppressed or excluded by the participants; another is the presupposition that no persuasive force except that of the better argument is exerted.   There is also the presupposition that all the participants are motivated only by a concern for the better argument, and the presupposition of attributing a context-transcending significance to validity claims.   This last one is controversial but important (and becomes expanded and clarified in the presuppositions of discourse, see below).  The idea is that participants in communication instill their claims with a validity that is understood to have significance beyond the specific context of their agreement.  In sum, all these presuppositions must be assumed to be approximately satisfied in any situation of communication, despite their being necessarily counterfactual.  Habermas refers to the positing of these idealized presuppositions as the “simultaneously unavoidable and trivial accomplishments that sustain communicative action and argumentation.”  
Habermas calls discourses those forms of communication that come sufficiently close to actually satisfying these presuppositions.  Discourses often occur within institutionalized forms of argumentation that self-reflectively refine their procedures of communication, and as a result have a more rigorous set of presuppositions in addition to the ones listed above.  A striking feature of discourse is that validity claims tend to be explicitly thematized and there is the presupposition that all possible interlocutors would agree to the universal validity of the conclusions reached.  Habermas especially highlights this in what he calls theoretical discourses and practical discourses.  These are tied directly to two of the three dimensions of validity discussed above: theoretical discourse being concerned with validity claims thematized regarding objective states of affairs (IT); practical discourse being concerned with validity claims thematized concerning the rightness of norms governing social interactions (WE).  
Habermas understands the presupposition just mentioned to be responsible for generating the self-understanding and continuation of theoretical and practical discourses. It involves an implicit connection with universality in two senses(Cooke, 1994).  It points out that the validity of an understanding reached in theoretical or practical discourse, concerning some factual knowledge or normative principle, is always expanded beyond the immediate context in which it is achieved.  The idea is that participants in discourses such as these presuppose that any understanding reached could attain universal agreement concerning its universal validity if these discourses could be relieved of the constraints of time and space.  This idealized presupposition directs discourses concerning truth and normative certainty beyond the contingencies of specific communicative situations and towards the idealized achievements of universal consensus and universal validity.  It is a rational reconstruction of the conditions for the possibility of earnest discourses concerning facts and norms. Recall that rational reconstructions aim at offering the most acceptable account of what allows for the competencies already mastered by a wide range of subjects.  In order for discourse to proceed the existence of facts and norms must be presupposed, while the certainty of an absolute knowledge of them must be, in a sense, postponed.  Striking a Piagetian and Peircian chord Habermas understands the deep structures of collective inquiry as developmental.  Thus, the presupposition shared by individuals involved in discourse is taken to reflect this. The idealized mathematical notion of an infinite approximation is transplanted into the realm of intersubjectivity, as the communicative pursuit of truth and normative certainty is taken to be motivated and grounded not in the givenness of an objective or social world, but in a learning process. 
There are other presuppositions of discourse, including the presupposition that no validity claim is exempt in principle from critical evaluation in argumentation and the presupposition that everyone capable of speech and action is entitled to participate, and everyone is equally entitled to introduce new topics or express attitudes needs or desires.  However, these do not need to be elaborated here.  Because what I want to emphasize is the importance of the analytical project Habermas has laid out by trying to explicate the presuppositions of argumentation and communication.  Even if the specifics of the presuppositions he has formulated could be refined, I think the general intuition that motivates their being rationally reconstructed is correct.  In fact Habermas himself is always careful to formulate his work as a research project.  
	
In any case, reconstructing the presuppositions and validity dimensions inherent to communication is valuable because it brings into relief the inescapable foundations of our everyday practices.   Communicative action and the rudimentary forms of argumentation that orient the greater part of human interaction cannot be left behind.  By reconstructing the deep structures of these Habermas has discovered a seed of rationality planted in the very heart of the lifeworld.  Everyday practices, which are common enough to be trivial, such as reaching an understanding with another or contesting the reasons for pursuing a course of action, contain an implicit and idealized rationality.  We would not communicate if we thought that the speech acts we exchanged did not carry the weight of a validity for which those participating could be held accountable.   Nor would we feel that a conclusion was justified if it was achieved by any other means than the unforced force of the better argument.  Nor could the specialized discourses of law, science and morality continue if the progress of knowledge and insight was denied in favor of relativism.  The fact that these (and other or similar) idealizations are necessarily counterfactual is in some ways the point.  The rationality Habermas alludes to by way of his analyses of communication serves as the foundation of a critical theory.  It is meant to disclose the possibilities for a just and reasonable life that are already developing in the womb of today's distress and to hold them up in the hope of recruiting midwives.
Cooke, M. (1994). Language and reason: A study in Habermas's pragmatics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action: Lifeworld and system, a critique of functionalist reason (T. McCarthy, Trans. Vol. 2). Boston: Beacon Press.
Habermas, J. (1990). Moral consciousness and communicative action (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1990a). Philosophy as stand-in interpreter (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). In Moral consciousness and communicative action (pp. 1-21). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1990b). Reconstruction and interpretation in the social sciences (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). In Moral consciousness and communicative action (pp. 21-43). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1992). Themes in post-metaphysical thinking (W. Hohengarten, Trans.). In Post-metaphysical thinking: Philosophical essays (pp. 28-57). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
--Zakademic 14:09, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Because of certain Wikipedia stardards, spelling, etc. it will take a bit of editing, but I can have it up soon. Habermas's page now links to the articles you wanted, though. Lucidish 21:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Zak's plan

message: I have explained that when individuals pursue actions oriented towards reaching an understating the speech acts they exchange take on the weight of a mutually recognized validity.  This means each actor involved in communication takes the other as accountable for what they have said, which implies that good reasons could be given by all to justify the validity of the understanding that is being achieved.  Again, in most situations the redemption of validity claims is not an explicit undertaking (except in discourses, see below).  Instead, each actor issues a “warranty” of accountability to the other, which only needs to be redeemed if certain validity claims are thrown into question.  This suggests that the validity claims raised in every communicative interaction implicitly tie communication to argumentation.  
It is here that the idealized presuppositions of communication arise.  Habermas claims that all forms of argumentation, even implicit and rudimentary ones, rest upon certain “idealizing suppositions,” which are rooted in the very structures of action oriented towards understanding.  These “strong idealizations” are always understood as at least approximately satisfied by participants in situations where argumentation (and communication) is thought to be taking place.  Thus, when during communication it is discovered that the belief that these presuppositions are satisfied is not justified it is always taken as problematic.  As a result, steps are usually taken to reestablish and maintain the belief that they are approximately satisfied, or communication is simply called off. 
The most basic of these idealized presuppositions is the presupposition that participants in communicative exchange are using the same linguistic expressions in the same way.  This is an obvious but interesting point, which clearly illustrates what an idealized presupposition is.  It’s a presupposition because communication would not proceed if those involved did not think it was at least approximately satisfied (in this case that a shared language was being used).  It’s idealized because no matter how closely it is approximated it is always counterfactual (because, in this case, the fact is that all meanings are to some degree personally defined).  Another, basic idealized presupposition of argumentation is the presupposition that no relevant argument is suppressed or excluded by the participants; another is the presupposition that no persuasive force except that of the better argument is exerted.   There is also the presupposition that all the participants are motivated only by a concern for the better argument, and the presupposition of attributing a context-transcending significance to validity claims.   This last one is controversial but important (and becomes expanded and clarified in the presuppositions of discourse, see below).  The idea is that participants in communication instill their claims with a validity that is understood to have significance beyond the specific context of their agreement.  In sum, all these presuppositions must be assumed to be approximately satisfied in any situation of communication, despite their being necessarily counterfactual.  Habermas refers to the positing of these idealized presuppositions as the “simultaneously unavoidable and trivial accomplishments that sustain communicative action and argumentation.”  
Habermas calls discourses those forms of communication that come sufficiently close to actually satisfying these presuppositions.  Discourses often occur within institutionalized forms of argumentation that self-reflectively refine their procedures of communication, and as a result have a more rigorous set of presuppositions in addition to the ones listed above.  A striking feature of discourse is that validity claims tend to be explicitly thematized and there is the presupposition that all possible interlocutors would agree to the universal validity of the conclusions reached.  Habermas especially highlights this in what he calls theoretical discourses and practical discourses.  These are tied directly to two of the three dimensions of validity discussed above: theoretical discourse being concerned with validity claims thematized regarding objective states of affairs (IT); practical discourse being concerned with validity claims thematized concerning the rightness of norms governing social interactions (WE).  
Habermas understands the presupposition just mentioned to be responsible for generating the self-understanding and continuation of theoretical and practical discourses. It involves an implicit connection with universality in two senses(Cooke, 1994).  It points out that the validity of an understanding reached in theoretical or practical discourse, concerning some factual knowledge or normative principle, is always expanded beyond the immediate context in which it is achieved.  The idea is that participants in discourses such as these presuppose that any understanding reached could attain universal agreement concerning its universal validity if these discourses could be relieved of the constraints of time and space.  This idealized presupposition directs discourses concerning truth and normative certainty beyond the contingencies of specific communicative situations and towards the idealized achievements of universal consensus and universal validity.  It is a rational reconstruction of the conditions for the possibility of earnest discourses concerning facts and norms. Recall that rational reconstructions aim at offering the most acceptable account of what allows for the competencies already mastered by a wide range of subjects.  In order for discourse to proceed the existence of facts and norms must be presupposed, while the certainty of an absolute knowledge of them must be, in a sense, postponed.  Striking a Piagetian and Peircian chord Habermas understands the deep structures of collective inquiry as developmental.  Thus, the presupposition shared by individuals involved in discourse is taken to reflect this. The idealized mathematical notion of an infinite approximation is transplanted into the realm of intersubjectivity, as the communicative pursuit of truth and normative certainty is taken to be motivated and grounded not in the givenness of an objective or social world, but in a learning process. 
There are other presuppositions of discourse, including the presupposition that no validity claim is exempt in principle from critical evaluation in argumentation and the presupposition that everyone capable of speech and action is entitled to participate, and everyone is equally entitled to introduce new topics or express attitudes needs or desires.  However, these do not need to be elaborated here.  Because what I want to emphasize is the importance of the analytical project Habermas has laid out by trying to explicate the presuppositions of argumentation and communication.  Even if the specifics of the presuppositions he has formulated could be refined, I think the general intuition that motivates their being rationally reconstructed is correct.  In fact Habermas himself is always careful to formulate his work as a research project.  
	
In any case, reconstructing the presuppositions and validity dimensions inherent to communication is valuable because it brings into relief the inescapable foundations of our everyday practices.   Communicative action and the rudimentary forms of argumentation that orient the greater part of human interaction cannot be left behind.  By reconstructing the deep structures of these Habermas has discovered a seed of rationality planted in the very heart of the lifeworld.  Everyday practices, which are common enough to be trivial, such as reaching an understanding with another or contesting the reasons for pursuing a course of action, contain an implicit and idealized rationality.  We would not communicate if we thought that the speech acts we exchanged did not carry the weight of a validity for which those participating could be held accountable.   Nor would we feel that a conclusion was justified if it was achieved by any other means than the unforced force of the better argument.  Nor could the specialized discourses of law, science and morality continue if the progress of knowledge and insight was denied in favor of relativism.  The fact that these (and other or similar) idealizations are necessarily counterfactual is in some ways the point.  The rationality Habermas alludes to by way of his analyses of communication serves as the foundation of a critical theory.  It is meant to disclose the possibilities for a just and reasonable life that are already developing in the womb of today's distress and to hold them up in the hope of recruiting midwives.
Cooke, M. (1994). Language and reason: A study in Habermas's pragmatics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action: Lifeworld and system, a critique of functionalist reason (T. McCarthy, Trans. Vol. 2). Boston: Beacon Press.
Habermas, J. (1990). Moral consciousness and communicative action (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1990a). Philosophy as stand-in interpreter (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). In Moral consciousness and communicative action (pp. 1-21). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1990b). Reconstruction and interpretation in the social sciences (C. L. a. S. Nicholsen, Trans.). In Moral consciousness and communicative action (pp. 21-43). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Habermas, J. (1992). Themes in post-metaphysical thinking (W. Hohengarten, Trans.). In Post-metaphysical thinking: Philosophical essays (pp. 28-57). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
--Zakademic 14:09, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Idealized Presuppositions of Communication 

message: Holy crap, nice work. I think that given the length of the above entry on rational recon., it might be better to put it up as a separate article. A short summary of his metaphilosophy here would do, and then a link to the larger article. Lucidish 15:10, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Zak 

message: Let me start by saying I'm new to this, whcih is why I'm dunping all this stuff here in the discussion page. 
I think that on the Habermas main page there should be a link to universal pragmatics and a link to communicative rationality and a link to Habermas's discourse ethics. Thsi last one could start out as follows:
==== Communicative Rationality ====
The general outlines of Habermas's formal pragmatic analyses of communication have been explained.  What these imply is the potential for rationality that is inherent in communication itself.  Of course, this has led Habermas to formulate a notion of communicative rationality, which takes up this implicit potential and formalizes it into an explicit knowledge.  Again the form of rational reconstruction arises, where implicit know-how is transformed into explicit know-that.  In this case it is the intuitively mastered rules for reaching an understanding and conducting argumentation possessed by subjects capable of speech and action that have been explicated.  The result is a complex conception of reason that Habermas sees as doing justice to the most important trends in twentieth century philosophy, while escaping relativism and providing standards for critical evaluation (Habermas, 1992). 
There are number of specific trends that Habermas identifies as important to twentieth century philosophy and to which he thinks his conception of communicative rationality contributes.  Looking at these will give a clear outline of what Habermas understands communicative rationality to be. He labels all these trends as being post-metaphysical.  They can be listed as such (Cooke, 1994).  These post-metaphysical philosophical movements have 1) called into question the substantive conceptions of rationality (e.g. “a rational person thinks this”) and put forward procedural or formal conceptions instead (e.g. “a rational person thinks like this”); 2) with regard to valid knowledge and how it may be achieved, they have replaced foundationalism with fallibilism; 3) they have cast doubt on the idea that reason should be conceived abstractly beyond history and the complexities of social life, and have contextualized or situated reason in actual historical practices; 4) as part of this contextualization of reason they have replaced a focus on individual structures of consciousness with a concern for pragmatic structures of language and action; and 5) as part of this orientation toward practice and away from theory they have given up philosophy's traditional fixation on theoretical truth and the representational functions of language to the extent that they also recognize the moral and expressive functions of language.
	
Needless to say I will not cover all of these points in detail.  But I would like to point out at least some of the ways that Habermas's conception of communicative rationality moves along with these contemporary currents of philosophy.  Concerning 1) it can be said that 
"[Communicative] rationality refers primarily to the use of knowledge in language and action rather than to a property of knowledge.  One might say that it refers primarily to a mode of dealing with validity claims and that it is, in general, not a property of these claims themselves.  Furthermore…this perspective suggests no more than formal specifications of possible forms of life… it does not extend to the concrete form of life…(Cooke, 1994)."
Concerning 2) Habermas clearly and explicitly understands communicative rationality according to the terms of a reconstructive science.  This means that the conception of communicative rationality is not a definitive and final rendering of what reason is, but rather a fallible but rigorously substantiated claim or hypothesis.  It also means that communicative rationality itself is a procedural and falliblistic ideal of rationality.   It can prescribe only formal specifications concerning what qualifies as reasonable (not concrete exemplars to be emulated) and even those formal specifications are taken as fallible, being open to revision in light of experience and learning.
  
Concerning 3) and 4) it should be noted that Habermas's entire conceptual framework is focused around social interaction and communication.  He ties rationality to the validity basis of everyday speech, which contextualizes reason in the everyday practices of modern individuals.  This is opposed to those philosophies (e.g. Plato, Kant etc.) that sought to ground reason in an intelligible and non-temporal realm, understanding this reason as being able to judge the realm of time and contingency because it was outside it.  However, it should also be noted that while Habermas's notion of communicative rationality is contextualized and historicized, it is not relativistic.  Many philosophical contextiualists take reason to be entirely context dependent and relative.  Habermas holds reason to be relatively context specific and sensitive.  The difference is that Habermas explicates the deep structures of reason by examining the presuppositions and validity dimensions of everyday communication, while the relativists focus only on the content displayed in various concrete standards of rationality.  Thus, Habermas can compare and contrast the rationality of various forms of society with an eye to the deeper and more universal processes at work, which enables him to justify the critique of certain forms (Nazism=irrational=bad) and lend support to the championing of others (democracy=rational=good).   The relativists on the other hand, can compare and contrast the rationality of various forms of society but are unable to take up a critical stance, because they can posit no standard of rationality outside the relative and variable content of the societies in question (Nazism=a kind of society with standards that constitute what is right and true=democracy).
  
Concerning 5) Habermas's communicative rationality emphasizes the equal importance of the three validity dimensions, which means it sees the potential for rationality in normative rightness (WE), theoretical truth (IT) and expressive or subjective truthfulness (I).  The differentiation of these three “worlds” is understood as a valuable heuristic.  This leaves each to its specific forms of argumentation and justification.  However, these validity dimensions should be related to one another and understood as complementary pieces in a broader conception of rationality.  This points towards a productive interpenetration of the validity dimensions, for example the use of moral insights by the sciences without their having to sacrifice theoretical rigor, or the inclusion of psychological data into resources of moral philosophy. 
 
These last points concerning the breadth of communicative rationality have by far the most important implications. By differentiating the three validity dimensions and holding them as equally valuable and rational a broader and multifaceted conception of rationality is opened.  What this means is that Habermas has, through the formal pragmatic analysis of communication, revealed that rationality should not be limited to the consideration and resolution of objective concerns.  He claims that the structure of communication itself demonstrates that normative and evaluative concerns can (and ought to) be resolved through rational procedures.
  
The clearest way to see this is to recognize that the validity dimensions implicit in communication signify that a speaker is open to the charge of being irrational if they place normative validity claims outside of rational discourse.  Following Habermas the argument relies that the following are given: (a) that communication can proceed between two individuals only on the basis of a consensus (usually implicit) regarding the validity claims raised by the speech acts they exchange; (b) that these validity claims concern at least three dimension of validity (I, truthfulness; WE, rightness; IT, truth); and (c) that a mutual understanding is maintained on the basis of the shared presupposition that any validity claim agreed upon could be justified, if necessary, by making recourse to good reasons.  From these premises it is concluded that any individual engaging in communication is accountable for the normative validity of the claims they raise.  By earnestly offering a speech act to another in communication a speaker claims not only that what they say is true (IT) but also that it is normatively right (WE) and honest (I).  Moreover, the speaker implicitly offers to justify these claims if challenged and justify them with reasons.  Thus, if a speaker, when challenged, can offer no acceptable reasons for the normative framework they implied through the offering of a given speech act, that speech act would be unacceptable because it is irrational.  
In its essence the idea of communicative rationality draws upon the implicit validity claims that are inescapably bound to the everyday practices of individuals capable of speech and action.  A mutual understanding can be achieved through communication only by fusing the perspectives of individuals, which requires they reach an agreement (even if it is only assumed) on the validity of the speech acts being shared.  Moreover, the speech acts shared between individuals in communication are laden with three different types of validity claims, all of which quietly but insistently demand to be justified with good reasons.  Communicative rationality appears in the intuitive competencies of communicative actors who would not feel that a mutual understanding had been achieved if the validity claims raised were unjustifiable.   Thus, the simple process of reaching an understanding with others impels individuals to be accountable for what they say and to be able to justify the validity claims they raise concerning normative (WE), evaluative (I) and objective matters (IT).   
Of course a very important issue arises from this, which is that what constitutes a good or acceptable justification varies from context to context.  Even if it is accepted that rationality must be expanded to include normative and evaluative dimensions it is not clear what it is that makes a speech act justified, because it is unclear what constitutes a good reason.  Before tackling what constitutes a good reason it must be understood that there are different kinds of reasons in relation to the different validity dimensions. This should have been becoming apparent, because what defines a validity dimension are the procedures of justification that are unique to it.  For example, if I claim or imply with my speech act that it is raining outside, a good reason for claiming this is that I saw it out the window.  If you don’t believe me I could ask you to go look.  This is a very simple way of describing the procedures of justification unique to objective validity claims.  However, if I claim or imply with my speech act that abortion is acceptable in certain cases my reasons for claiming this must be of a different nature.  I would have to direct your attention to certain features of the social world that are infused with meaning and significance.  I would have to draw on insights into the vulnerability of individuals under the weight of life's circumstances and the kinds of rights that humans deserve.  These types of considerations make up the resources available for the justification of normative validity claims.
  
What constitutes a good reason is a more complex problem.  Accepting the distinction between the different kinds of reasons that accompany the differentiation of the validly dimensions does not give any insight into what a good reason in a particular validity dimension would be.  In fact, it complexifies the issue because it makes it clear that there are different procedures unique to each validity dimension and that these dimensions cannot be reduced to one another.  Habermas does suggest some general guidelines concerning the rationality of communicative processes that lead to conclusions; the presuppositions of discourses have already been discussed.  But his explanations regarding the specific procedures that are unique to each validity dimension are much more elaborate.  
--Zakademic 15:26, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Because of certain Wikipedia stardards, spelling, etc. it will take a bit of editing, but I can have it up soon. Habermas's page now links to the articles you wanted, though. Lucidish 21:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Overview ideas 

message: The general outlines of Habermas's formal pragmatic analyses of communication have been explained.  What these imply is the potential for rationality that is inherent in communication itself.  Of course, this has led Habermas to formulate a notion of communicative rationality, which takes up this implicit potential and formalizes it into an explicit knowledge.  Again the form of rational reconstruction arises, where implicit know-how is transformed into explicit know-that.  In this case it is the intuitively mastered rules for reaching an understanding and conducting argumentation possessed by subjects capable of speech and action that have been explicated.  The result is a complex conception of reason that Habermas sees as doing justice to the most important trends in twentieth century philosophy, while escaping relativism and providing standards for critical evaluation (Habermas, 1992). 
There are number of specific trends that Habermas identifies as important to twentieth century philosophy and to which he thinks his conception of communicative rationality contributes.  Looking at these will give a clear outline of what Habermas understands communicative rationality to be. He labels all these trends as being post-metaphysical.  They can be listed as such (Cooke, 1994).  These post-metaphysical philosophical movements have 1) called into question the substantive conceptions of rationality (e.g. “a rational person thinks this”) and put forward procedural or formal conceptions instead (e.g. “a rational person thinks like this”); 2) with regard to valid knowledge and how it may be achieved, they have replaced foundationalism with fallibilism; 3) they have cast doubt on the idea that reason should be conceived abstractly beyond history and the complexities of social life, and have contextualized or situated reason in actual historical practices; 4) as part of this contextualization of reason they have replaced a focus on individual structures of consciousness with a concern for pragmatic structures of language and action; and 5) as part of this orientation toward practice and away from theory they have given up philosophy's traditional fixation on theoretical truth and the representational functions of language to the extent that they also recognize the moral and expressive functions of language.
	
Needless to say I will not cover all of these points in detail.  But I would like to point out at least some of the ways that Habermas's conception of communicative rationality moves along with these contemporary currents of philosophy.  Concerning 1) it can be said that 
"[Communicative] rationality refers primarily to the use of knowledge in language and action rather than to a property of knowledge.  One might say that it refers primarily to a mode of dealing with validity claims and that it is, in general, not a property of these claims themselves.  Furthermore…this perspective suggests no more than formal specifications of possible forms of life… it does not extend to the concrete form of life…(Cooke, 1994)."
Concerning 2) Habermas clearly and explicitly understands communicative rationality according to the terms of a reconstructive science.  This means that the conception of communicative rationality is not a definitive and final rendering of what reason is, but rather a fallible but rigorously substantiated claim or hypothesis.  It also means that communicative rationality itself is a procedural and falliblistic ideal of rationality.   It can prescribe only formal specifications concerning what qualifies as reasonable (not concrete exemplars to be emulated) and even those formal specifications are taken as fallible, being open to revision in light of experience and learning.
  
Concerning 3) and 4) it should be noted that Habermas's entire conceptual framework is focused around social interaction and communication.  He ties rationality to the validity basis of everyday speech, which contextualizes reason in the everyday practices of modern individuals.  This is opposed to those philosophies (e.g. Plato, Kant etc.) that sought to ground reason in an intelligible and non-temporal realm, understanding this reason as being able to judge the realm of time and contingency because it was outside it.  However, it should also be noted that while Habermas's notion of communicative rationality is contextualized and historicized, it is not relativistic.  Many philosophical contextiualists take reason to be entirely context dependent and relative.  Habermas holds reason to be relatively context specific and sensitive.  The difference is that Habermas explicates the deep structures of reason by examining the presuppositions and validity dimensions of everyday communication, while the relativists focus only on the content displayed in various concrete standards of rationality.  Thus, Habermas can compare and contrast the rationality of various forms of society with an eye to the deeper and more universal processes at work, which enables him to justify the critique of certain forms (Nazism=irrational=bad) and lend support to the championing of others (democracy=rational=good).   The relativists on the other hand, can compare and contrast the rationality of various forms of society but are unable to take up a critical stance, because they can posit no standard of rationality outside the relative and variable content of the societies in question (Nazism=a kind of society with standards that constitute what is right and true=democracy).
  
Concerning 5) Habermas's communicative rationality emphasizes the equal importance of the three validity dimensions, which means it sees the potential for rationality in normative rightness (WE), theoretical truth (IT) and expressive or subjective truthfulness (I).  The differentiation of these three “worlds” is understood as a valuable heuristic.  This leaves each to its specific forms of argumentation and justification.  However, these validity dimensions should be related to one another and understood as complementary pieces in a broader conception of rationality.  This points towards a productive interpenetration of the validity dimensions, for example the use of moral insights by the sciences without their having to sacrifice theoretical rigor, or the inclusion of psychological data into resources of moral philosophy. 
 
These last points concerning the breadth of communicative rationality have by far the most important implications. By differentiating the three validity dimensions and holding them as equally valuable and rational a broader and multifaceted conception of rationality is opened.  What this means is that Habermas has, through the formal pragmatic analysis of communication, revealed that rationality should not be limited to the consideration and resolution of objective concerns.  He claims that the structure of communication itself demonstrates that normative and evaluative concerns can (and ought to) be resolved through rational procedures.
  
The clearest way to see this is to recognize that the validity dimensions implicit in communication signify that a speaker is open to the charge of being irrational if they place normative validity claims outside of rational discourse.  Following Habermas the argument relies that the following are given: (a) that communication can proceed between two individuals only on the basis of a consensus (usually implicit) regarding the validity claims raised by the speech acts they exchange; (b) that these validity claims concern at least three dimension of validity (I, truthfulness; WE, rightness; IT, truth); and (c) that a mutual understanding is maintained on the basis of the shared presupposition that any validity claim agreed upon could be justified, if necessary, by making recourse to good reasons.  From these premises it is concluded that any individual engaging in communication is accountable for the normative validity of the claims they raise.  By earnestly offering a speech act to another in communication a speaker claims not only that what they say is true (IT) but also that it is normatively right (WE) and honest (I).  Moreover, the speaker implicitly offers to justify these claims if challenged and justify them with reasons.  Thus, if a speaker, when challenged, can offer no acceptable reasons for the normative framework they implied through the offering of a given speech act, that speech act would be unacceptable because it is irrational.  
In its essence the idea of communicative rationality draws upon the implicit validity claims that are inescapably bound to the everyday practices of individuals capable of speech and action.  A mutual understanding can be achieved through communication only by fusing the perspectives of individuals, which requires they reach an agreement (even if it is only assumed) on the validity of the speech acts being shared.  Moreover, the speech acts shared between individuals in communication are laden with three different types of validity claims, all of which quietly but insistently demand to be justified with good reasons.  Communicative rationality appears in the intuitive competencies of communicative actors who would not feel that a mutual understanding had been achieved if the validity claims raised were unjustifiable.   Thus, the simple process of reaching an understanding with others impels individuals to be accountable for what they say and to be able to justify the validity claims they raise concerning normative (WE), evaluative (I) and objective matters (IT).   
Of course a very important issue arises from this, which is that what constitutes a good or acceptable justification varies from context to context.  Even if it is accepted that rationality must be expanded to include normative and evaluative dimensions it is not clear what it is that makes a speech act justified, because it is unclear what constitutes a good reason.  Before tackling what constitutes a good reason it must be understood that there are different kinds of reasons in relation to the different validity dimensions. This should have been becoming apparent, because what defines a validity dimension are the procedures of justification that are unique to it.  For example, if I claim or imply with my speech act that it is raining outside, a good reason for claiming this is that I saw it out the window.  If you don’t believe me I could ask you to go look.  This is a very simple way of describing the procedures of justification unique to objective validity claims.  However, if I claim or imply with my speech act that abortion is acceptable in certain cases my reasons for claiming this must be of a different nature.  I would have to direct your attention to certain features of the social world that are infused with meaning and significance.  I would have to draw on insights into the vulnerability of individuals under the weight of life's circumstances and the kinds of rights that humans deserve.  These types of considerations make up the resources available for the justification of normative validity claims.
  
What constitutes a good reason is a more complex problem.  Accepting the distinction between the different kinds of reasons that accompany the differentiation of the validly dimensions does not give any insight into what a good reason in a particular validity dimension would be.  In fact, it complexifies the issue because it makes it clear that there are different procedures unique to each validity dimension and that these dimensions cannot be reduced to one another.  Habermas does suggest some general guidelines concerning the rationality of communicative processes that lead to conclusions; the presuppositions of discourses have already been discussed.  But his explanations regarding the specific procedures that are unique to each validity dimension are much more elaborate.  
--Zakademic 15:26, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Communicative Rationality]] 

message: Habermas's moral theory (1990), which has been given the name discourse ethics, is essentially his attempt to formulate the implications of communicative rationality in the sphere of moral insight and normative validity.  It is a complex theoretical effort to reformulate the fundamental insights of Kantian deontological ethics in terms of the analysis of communicative structures.  This means that it is an attempt to explain the universal and obligatory nature of morality by evoking the universal obligations of communicative rationality.   It is also a cognitivist moral theory, which means it holds that justifying the validity of moral norms can be done in a manner analogous to the justification of facts.  However, the entire project is undertaken as a rational reconstruction of moral insight.  It claims only to reconstruct the implicit normative orientations that guide individuals and it claims to access these through an analysis of communication.  
Simply put, Habmeras maintains that normative validity cannot be understood as separate from the argumentative procedures used in everyday practice, such as those used to resolve issues concerning the legitimacy of actions and the validity of the norms governing interactions.  He makes this claim by making reference to the validity dimensions attached to speech acts in communication and the implicit forms of argumentation they imply, which is a facet of his theory I will not get into.  The basic idea is that the validity of a moral norm cannot be justified in the mind of an isolated individual reflecting on the world.  The validity of a norm is justified only intersubjectivly in processes of argumentation between individuals.  Thus, the validity of a claim to normative rightness depends upon the mutual understanding achieved by individuals in argumentation.  From this it follows that the deep structures of argumentation would become important.  Kant extracted moral principles from the necessities forced upon a rational subject reflecting on the world.  Habermas extracts moral principles from the necessities forced upon individuals engaged in the discursive justification of validity claims, from the inescapable presuppositions of communication and argumentation.  
Recall the idealized presuppositions of communication discussed above.  These were the kinds of idealization that individuals had to make in order for communication and argumentation to even begin.  To list them quickly:
*The presupposition that participants in communicative exchange are using the same linguistic expressions in the same way
*The presupposition that no relevant argument is suppressed or excluded by the participants
*The presupposition that no force except that of the better argument is exerted
*The presupposition that all the participants are motivated only by a concern for the better argument
There were also presuppositions unique to discourse:
*The presupposition that everyone would agree to the universal validity of the claim thematized 
*The presupposition that everyone capable of speech and action is entitled to participate, and everyone is equally entitled to introduce new topics or express attitudes needs or desires
*The presupposition that no validity claim is exempt in principle from critical evaluation in argumentation 
These are at the center of Habermas's moral theory.  Basically, discourse ethics attempts to distill the idealized moral point of view that accompanies a perfectly rational process of argumentation (also idealized), which would be the moral principle implied by the presuppositions listed above.  The key point is that the presuppositions of argumentation and communication that have been rationally reconstructed by Habermas are both factual and normative.  This can be said about his entire project because it is explicitly attempting to bridge the gap between the is and the ought.  Habermas speaks of the mutual recognition and exchanging of roles and perspectives that are demanded by the very structural condition of rational argumentation. He maintains that what is implied in these factual presuppositions of communication is the deep structure of moral norms, the conditions that every valid norm must fulfill.  The presuppositions of communication express a universal obligation to maintain impartial judgment in discourse, which constrains all affected to adopt the perspectives of all others in the exchange of reasons.  From this Habermas extracts the following principle of universalization (U), which is the condition every valid norm has to fulfill:
"(U) All affected can accept the consequences and the side effects its [the norm's] general observance can be anticipated to have for the satisfaction of everyone's interests (and the consequences are preferred to those of known alternative possibilities for regulation) (Habermas, 1990)."
This can be understood as the deep structure of all acceptable moral norms, and should not be confused with the principle of discourse ethics (D), which presupposes that norms exist that satisfy the conditions specified by (U). 
"(D) Only those norms can claim to be valid that meet (or could meet) with the approval of all affected in their capacity as participants in a practical discourse (Habermas, 1990)." 
The implications of (U) and (D) are quite profound.  (U) claims to be a rational reconstruction of the impartial moral point of view at the heart of all cognitivist moral theories.  According to moral cognitivists (e.g. Kant, Rawls etc.), it is only from such a moral point of view that insight into the actual (quasi-factual) impersonal obligations of a general will can be gained, because this perspective relieves decisions from the inaccuracies of personal interests.  Of course, Habermas's reconstruction is different because it is intersubjective.  That is, Habermas (unlike Kant or Rawls) formulates the moral point of view as it arises out of the multiple perspectives of those affected by a norm under consideration.  The moral point of view explicated in (U) is not the property of an individual subject but the property of a community of interlocutors, the results of a complex dialogical process of role taking and perspective exchanging.  Furthermore, (U) is deduced from a rational reconstruction of the presupposition of communication, which downgrades the strong transcendentalism of Kantian ethics by establishing a foundation in inner-worldly processes of communication. 
 
(D) on the other hand, is a principle concerning the manner in which norms conforming to (U) must be justified though discourse.  Again, Habermas takes the task of moral reflection out of the isolated individual's head and gives it to intersubjective processes of communication.  What (D) proposes is that moral principles must be validated in actual discourse and that those to be affected by a norm must be able to participate in argumentation concerning its validity.  No number of thought experiments can replace a communicative exchange with others regarding moral norms that will affect them.  Moreover, this general prescription concerning the type of discourse necessary for the justification of moral norms opens the process of moral deliberation to the kind of learning that accompanies a fallibilistic orientation.  (U) and (D) are catalysts for a moral learning process, which although fallible is not relative.  The flesh and blood insights of participants in communicative exchange are refracted through the universal guidelines explicated from the deep structures of communication and argumentation.  This spawns discourses with a rational trajectory, which are grounded in the particular circumstances of those involved but aimed at a universal moral validity. 
---- 
Needless to say, I have moved far to quickly into the heat of Habermas's moral theory.  But this is unavoidable.  Because space does not allow for a full elaboration and justification of his position I have attempted to simply lay it out.  I hope I have at least established that the general outline of Habermas's thought is acceptable, if not correct.  
The citations here are the same as above. 
Sorry to keep dumping all this stuff here. But I've written it and want to get it out there. I deeply apprecoiate all feed back and comments and help. The more people who understand Habermas the better. This may be a good start. The major headings of formal pragmatics, communicative rationality, and discourse ethics need to be supplimented with one's reguraidng system and lifeworld, socio-cultural evolution, law, etc. But that is my ambition—mabye some share it. 
--Zakademic 19:17, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Because of certain Wikipedia stardards, spelling, etc. it will take a bit of editing, but I can have it up soon. Habermas's page now links to the articles you wanted, though. Lucidish 21:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Habermas's [[discourse ethics]] 

message: What does "modal confusions" mean in the intro? The word "modal" has different meanings, and can be used in many different contexts. Lucidish 21:03, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Cover of Habermas article, perhaps?--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 21:43, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Peer review: fine tooth combery 

message: There is a link to Development on this page that is linking to a disambiguation page. I'm not sure which (if any) of the more specific pages on types of development would be a better link in this context. Could someone please review the choices available and either re-direct the link or delete it? Thanks.—Chidom talk  08:43, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Where's the link in the article? Lucidish { Ben S. Nelson } 20:00, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Disambiguation