COMMUNITY, POLITICS AND LANGUAGE:RECONSIDERING HABERMAS AND RECOGNITION
COMMUNITY, POLITICS AND LANGUAGE:RECONSIDERING HABERMAS AND RECOGNITION

Summary/Abstract: The objectives of this paper are twofold. The first aim is to work out an institutional approach to language within the communicative theory put forth by Habermas that resolves difficulties related to his thesis that the meaning of linguistic expressions is constituted by the shared practices of a lifeworld. This thesis leads Habermas in an undesirable hermeneutics of language which some commentators have approved, while others have pointed to the contradictions of this position. The institutional approach remedies those contradictions by distinguishing between the structural features of a lifeworld and its cultural traits. In addition, this approach enables a concept of group that has political significance. The second aim of this paper is thus to argue for a recognition of communities that stays within the demanding deliberative democracy that Habermas has developed. The result is to set grounds for a constructive critique of politics of recognition in the light of a radical theory of democracy.

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