Discourse ethics aims to find ethical truths through discussion and establish ethical principles. It is based on Kant’s moral theory and Hegel’s criticisms of it. The principles of speech ethics include sincerity, openness, respect, and self-examination. Discourse ethics is criticized for being too utopian and ignoring issues of prejudice. The discipline is built on the ideas of Habermas and Apel and has led to the development of three ideas: cognitivism, justice versus good, and universalization. Libertarian discourse ethics emphasizes freedom from coercion.
Discourse ethics has two main goals: to find ethical truths through discussion and to establish discourse ethics. There are four guiding principles of speech ethics, including sincerity, openness, respect, and self-examination. With this in mind, Jurgen Habermas, one of the founding thinkers of ethics in modern discourse, argued that “the best argument prevails”. His ideas and those of his fellow thinkers have been criticized for being too utopian, however, and for ignoring issues of prejudice.
Also called argumentation ethics, the discipline is built on the ideas of Habermas and fellow German philosopher Karl-Otto Apel. Both built their works on Immanuel Kant’s moral theory and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s criticisms of Kant. Philosophers such as Hans-Hermann Hopp, Stephan Kinsella, Frank van Dun and Roger Pilon helped develop libertarian theories on discourse ethics.
Certain assumptions underlie discourse ethics and help guide how such discussions should be conducted. Based on Kant’s moral theory, discussion should be open to any person who is able to speak and where the meaning of an expression is mutually understood by all participants. Also, no one should omit topics and the ultimate goal of all participants is to discover the best topic. These principles established by Habermas and Kant led to the development of three ideas of discourse ethics: cognitivism, justice versus good, and universalization.
Cognitivism is the belief that logic can be applied to ethical questions. This means that the resolution of a moral issue must not be done in relation to religious teachings or gut feelings. Instead, rational thought can, through logical processes, decide on an impartial and reasoned truth.
Justice versus good was equated with the living world and the imaginary world; this is to say that justice is the real world and good is the imaginary. Morality, it is argued, is the product of the mind and the dream world and morality is therefore the justification for accepted practices. Justice, on the other hand, is achieved through the application of impartiality.
Impartiality also plays a role in universalization. In this idea, all participants in an ethical dilemma have a moral or universal duty to uphold the guiding principles enunciated in the assumptions. Habermas believes that the side effects of total impartiality – emotional reactions to decisions that go against prevailing morality – are preferable to the alternative. The alternative is censorship and prejudice. By adhering to these principles, participants and institutions can enforce rigorous self-examination and will also be free from coercion.
The individual’s freedom from coercion is the founding principle of libertarian discourse ethics. Libertarianism asserts that equal rights and non-aggression are the key to achieving genuine discourse. Therefore, libertarians believe that all human beings should be free from any kind of coercion and that any abuser is unable to morally oppose punishment.
Several criticisms have been leveled at the ethics of discourse. First, it has been accused of being too utopian and therefore too impractical. Furthermore, Hegel believes that despite attempts to remove ethics in discourse from history and culture, he is still bound by it. He has also been accused of ignoring issues of race, gender and sexuality, but this makes sense because if the discourse is to be totally utopian and free then those things shouldn’t matter at all because all participants are 100% equal.
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