Predicaments of Communication, Argument, and Power: Towards a Critical Theory of Controversy

Authors

  • G. Thomas Goodnight

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v23i2.2163

Keywords:

communication, argument, Habermas, social theory, controversy, discourse ethics, public sphere.

Abstract

A critical theory of controversy would require the integration ofthe normative study of argumentation with critical studies of practices. Jiirgen Habermas has made a substantial contribution to such a project by embedding argumentation in a theory of communication, while critically engaging academic and public debates. This essay explicates core concepts in Habermas's theory of argumentation, including his distinction between theory and practice, the different validity requirements for argumentation in general, the norms of moral and ethical-political argumentation and of bargaining. Argument predicaments are posited as ways to discover and assess different types of validity claims competing as "the force ofthe better argument". Habermas's criticism of "administrative power" and "communicative power" illustrates a potential yield of critical inquiry into social controversy.

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Published

2004-01-01

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2003)

Section

Articles

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