The Role of Ethics in Social Theory
Subtitle: Essays From a Habermasian Perspective
By: Tony Smith.
Series: SUNY series in Ethical Theory
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1991-07-03
Place of publication: Albany, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 246
ISBN-13: 9780791406533; 9780791406526
Copyright date: 1991
Subjects: Habermas, Jürgen.; Ethics.; Social ethics.
Description: This book defends the derivation of the ethical principle of universalizability presented by Jürgen Habermas, and illustrates the importance of this principle for both social science and social policy. Beginning with a comprehensive analysis of social theory, Smith divides the theory into nine distinct branches, each devoted to a fundamental question; three branches fall under social science, three under social ethics, and the last three make up social policy. He shows in detail how each branch has its own methodologies and basic categories, while being systematically connected to the others as well. Next, he makes a compelling defense of Habermas's main contribution to social ethics and contrasts Habermas's rational foundation for ethics with the decisionism defended by Max Weber. Smith then examines the implications of the principle of universalizability for a number of important issues in social theory.

(Source: [State University of New York Press](https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Role-of-Ethics-in-Social-Theory2))
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-240) and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface
pagenum: ix; title: PART ONE: THE FRAMEWORK; label: I.
title: The Role of Philosophical Discourse in Social Theory
pagenum: 1; title: Introduction
pagenum: 1; title: Social Science
pagenum: 5; title: Social Ethics
pagenum: 14; title: Social Policy
pagenum: 19; title: Conclusion
pagenum: 25; title: PART TWO: SOME ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES; label: II.
title: The Scope of the Social Sciences in Weber and Habermas
pagenum: 31; title: Weber
pagenum: 31; title: Habermas
pagenum: 35; title: Critical Social Science
pagenum: 40; label: III.
title: Agricultural Science and Ideology
pagenum: 45; title: Ideological Mechanisms in Agricultural Science
pagenum: 47; title: Ideology in the Family Farm Debate
pagenum: 51; label: IV.
title: Two Models of Historical Materialism
pagenum: 59; title: Cohen
pagenum: 61; title: Habermas
pagenum: 72; title: PART THREE: SOME ETHICAL EVALUATIONS OF CAPITALISM; label: V.
title: On Liberty and Equality
pagenum: 89; label: VI.
title: Are Entrepreneurial Profits Prima Facie Deserved?
pagenum: 99; title: The Goal of Market Exchange
pagenum: 100; title: Entrepreneurial Profits: Genus and Species
pagenum: 192; title: Conclusion
pagenum: 109; title: PART FOUR: THREE NORMATIVE MODELS; label: VII.
title: Kant’s Political Philosophy: Rechtsstaat or Council Democracy?
pagenum: 113; title: Kant’s A Priori Argument for a Pure Republic (Rechtsstaat) and Federation of Republics
pagenum: 114; title: The Empirical Premises in Kant’s Argument
pagenum: 119; title: Sketch of an Alternative Model of Institutions Embodying Kantian Principles
pagenum: 130; label: VIII.
title: Rawls and the Structural Limits of the Capitalist State
pagenum: 141; title: Rawls’s Normative Model
pagenum: 141; title: Structural Analysis of Rawl’s Model
pagenum: 144; title: Conclusion
pagenum: 154; label: IX.
title: Habermas and History: The Institutionalization of Discourse as Historical Project
pagenum: 155; title: The Analysis of Modernity
pagenum: 156; title: Habermas’s Normative Model
pagenum: 158; title: Evaluation of Habermas’s Model
pagenum: 161; title: The Institutionalization of Discourse: An Alternative Model
pagenum: 169; title: PART FIVE: SOME ISSUES OF STRATEGY AND TACTICS; label: X.
title: Ethics and Power in the Work of Jürgen Habermas
pagenum: 175; title: Habermas’s Communicative Ethic
pagenum: 176; title: Habermas on Power
pagenum: 179; title: Habermas on the Priority of Communicative Action
pagenum: 181; title: Conclusion
pagenum: 190; label: XI.
title: Habermas on the University: Bildung in the Age of Technology
pagenum: 193; title: The Changing Function of the University
pagenum: 193; title: Two Alternative Strategies Regarding the Contemporary University
pagenum: 197; title: Habermas’s Strategic Orientation
pagenum: 199; title: Notes
pagenum: 205; title: Selected Bibliography
pagenum: 231; title: Index
pagenum: 241