1st Edition

The Self and Communicative Theory

By Gregory Heath Copyright 2000
    190 Pages
    by Routledge

    190 Pages
    by Routledge

    This title was first published in 2000:  This text contributes to the development of communicative theory by advancing a theory of the self-sufficient to support intersubjectivity and meet the conditions required for communicative rationality and communicative reason. The conclusion supports theories advanced by Habermas, Apel and Wittgenstein, evaluated against the background of later works from Immanuel Kant. The origins of communicative theory in the writings of Kant and Charles Sanders Peirce are sketched, followed by an outline of the development of the theory by Apel and Habermas. In this discussion a central issues is identified as the failure of communicative theory to produce an adequate theory of the self as the subject of communicative transactions. It is argued that both Mead and Habermas fail to fully establish intersubjectivity as they retain elements of a Cartesian introspective subjectivity. An alternative approach, developed by Charles Taylor, is then discussed. Finally, it is argued that freedom and imagination, understood in the context of Kant and the late Wittgenstein are the key elements to a self capable of supporting the intersubjectivity required by communicative theory.

    Acknowledgments, 1. Introduction: Transcendental Selves, 2. Communicative Theory, 3. Kant: The Unity of Apperception and the Modern Self, 4. Freedom: Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and the Primacy of Freedom, 5. Transcendental Arguments and the Ideal Communication Community: Karl-Otto Apel, 6. Apel, Mead and Intersubjectivity, 7. Charles Taylor and Expressivist Views of the Self, 8. Kant's Critique of Judgement and Communicability, 9. Kant and Later Wittgenstein, 10. Conclusion: An Interpersonal Theory, Index

    Biography

    Heath, Gregory