HABERMAS AND ROUSSEAU: A DIFFICULT RELATION

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The ethics of discourse has to do with an implicit theory of justice. It can abandon its presumed neutrality and positively stress the social conditions which, from a theoretical point of view, favor the concept of the legitimacy of the ethics of discourse. The thesis of ethical and discursive limitation should be reviewed and corrected. Normative content is not exhausted with the formulation of the rule of argumentation, that is, with the discursive principle of universalization. Habermas’s doctrine on morals and law contains normative material to confront the social constellations which ostensively damage democratic principles. The study tries to clarify if the proximity that Habermas establishes with Rousseau’s social contract favors or impedes a clearer grounding of Habermas’s heritage in the social reality of peoples. KEY WORDS: Habermas. Rousseau. Morals. General will. The ethics of discourse. Philosophy of law.