Choosing Between Capitalisms: Habermas, Ethics and Politics |
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Authors: | Russell Keat |
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Institution: | (1) School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Chrystal Macmillan Building, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, UK;(2) 14 Glenorchy Terrace, Edinburgh, EH9 2DQ, UK |
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Abstract: | In Between Facts and Norms Habermas both accepts the place of distinctively ethical considerations about ‘the good’ in political deliberation, and advances
a particular view of the nature and justification of ethical judgments. Whilst welcoming the former, this paper criticises
the latter, with its focus on issues of identity and self-understanding, and suggests instead a broadly Aristotelian alternative.
The argument proceeds, first, through a detailed engagement with Habermas’s theoretical claims about ethical reasoning in
politics, in which it is argued that he fails to show how different ethical possibilities can be critically evaluated, and
second, through the analysis of a practical example, that of a political choice being made between different kinds of capitalism.
Here the paper draws on recent work in comparative political economy on the institutional differences between varieties of
capitalism, and uses this to contrast the implications of Habermas’s conception of ethics, according to which what would matter
is the congruence between economic institutions and a political community’s historically shaped identity, with those of its
preferred alternative, which requires a comparison between the different conceptions of the good that each kind of capitalism
institutionally favours, and collective judgments about their respective contributions to human well-being. |
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